Renaissance of the Renegades
by Quatermass
Summary: In another universe, they were amongst the most feared renegade Time Lords: the would-be god Omega, and the amoral scientist known as the Rani. They have been reincarnated against all odds as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. And when they regain their memories, these two genius minds are going to start a revolution in Magical Britain...
1. Foreword

**FOREWORD**

One crossover that I thought I would never do, despite how popular it seems to be, is a crossover between Harry Potter and my favourite TV series, _Doctor Who_. As of writing, there are over a thousand such stories, which I believe to be more a function of how popular both franchises are rather than the compatibility of the two. After all, while it's pretty soft science fiction, _Doctor Who_ IS still science fiction, while Harry Potter is fantasy, and I considered the two hard to mesh. It's why I have few such crossovers in my favourites, though they are there.

However, I have finally decided to do one. A reincarnation fic that will help cover some of the problems I mentioned with such a crossover. It came about because, after the success of my pure Harry Potter fics _On the Delights of Drinking Blood_ and _Just a Touch of Kleptomania_ , both of which feature amoral, if not Dark, Harrys, I was tempted to do a Dark Lord Harry.

Both of the above stories were inspired by challenges issued by DZ2 on their forums. And I was tempted to do yet another one. Incidentally, I don't normally do challenges and the like. However, there are exceptions to the rule, exceptions which I take up entirely on my own terms (so let that be a warning to anyone who thinks they can send me challenges: I DON'T ACCEPT THEM NORMALLY! DO NOT DO IT OR I **WILL** BITE YOUR HEAD OFF!).

Anyway, after considering a few of their challenges, I decided to do a hybrid between DZ2's _Revenge of the Half-Blood Prince_ challenge (where Harry becomes a Dark Lord favouring Halfbloods and Muggleborns), _The Wrong Victim_ challenge (where Hermione is the first victim of the Basilisk) and their _Writing on the Wall_ prompt. However, this story is NOT an answer to any of these. Rather, it is a hybrid of both, along with Harry being a reincarnation of one of _Doctor Who_ 's most criminally underutilised villains. Same with Hermione, believe it or not. Hopefully, it will seem good.

Anyway, some disclaimers before we get to the story. Firstly, there will be spoilers for the Harry Potter series and for a number of _Doctor Who_ references. You have been warned.

Secondly, there _will_ be annotations. If you feel the urge to complain, then resist it, or better yet, strangle it.

Thirdly, this is an M-rated work. There will be language, violence, and sexual references. Again, you have been warned.

Finally, the following is a fan-written work. Harry Potter and _Doctor Who_ are the property of their respective owners. Please support the official release. Otherwise, the Time Lords will erase you from existence…


	2. Chapter 1: The Dominators

**CHAPTER 1:**

 **THE DOMINATORS**

It was a veritable city of tents. Not one for those without homes to go to. No, this tent city was, theoretically, for a more joyous occasion. No, it was for a sport. A most unusual sport called Quidditch, played on flying broomsticks. The tents themselves seemed to sport unusual features like chimneys that had no place there, but what did you expect from wizards.

The vast majority of these tents were bigger on the inside than the outside, being easily the size of small houses within. But there was one here that was certainly more than a mere wizarding tent. Oh, it looked normal: more normal than many of the tents here. It was a wedge of khaki canvas that wouldn't have looked out of place on a normal campground.

A bushy-haired girl, appearing to be in her late teens, looked around furtively, before entering the tent. For a brief moment, there seemed to be a confusion in what she walked through: a second set of tent flaps changed into large doors with circular indentations, which opened inwards with a distinctive whir, revealing a brightly-lit control room, one that could not have possibly fit into the tent.

The walls were decorated with circular panels dubbed roundels, though the girl knew that they were actually maintenance panels that could be opened up and tinkered with. A large television screen was set into one wall. Dominating the room was a large central console, like a hexagonal mushroom with a sextet of control panels. In the middle of the console was a transparent cylinder, containing a complex, crystalline structure that put the girl in mind of a wedding cake, given the tiers of the structure.

The girl frowned, wondering where the people she came to see were. She soon got her answer. Through the doors leading elsewhere into this place, she heard voices approaching. "…And the Pythia's Curse be upon him(1)! Damned meddling old fool!"

"I'll never get used to you saying things like that, Pup."

The door to the rest of the ship opened up. First came through a man in his thirties, still a little haggard after the last time she saw him, but looking better and more sane. Dark-haired, grey-eyed, with a beard that was now neat.

The other was a boy about her age, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, with a messy mop of black hair and piercing green eyes that seemed to almost glow. He was dressed in coveralls that were now covered in grease and other materials. He noticed the girl, and nodded. "Hello, Ushas," he said. "How was observing these fools?"

"Informative, if depressing, Peylix," the girl responded in a cool tone. "The Weasley dullards are wondering where you are."

"They can wonder all they like. I am not who they believe me to be in more ways than one, and if they had a single iota of who I truly am…Ron already distanced himself during that incident with the Chamber. A good thing I erased Ginny's memories, and removed that damnable obsession with me. Though it was more fun to deal with that acephalous imbecilic peacock Lockhart. Giving him over to you to experiment upon was a joy."

"Not for me," the girl named Ushas stated. "I got more from experimenting on Remus, and I left him alive and intact afterwards. He told me that his inner wolf is calmer now. Then again, I believe my threat to separate it from Remus and vivisect it helped."

Peylix laughed. "Ah, a woman after my own heart. Well, hearts, now that you've given me a proper Time Lord body. I can see the appeal, really. Two hearts, respiratory bypass, regeneration…plus improvements. No aspirin allergy(2), for one thing, even if I prefer paracetamol. Ah, if only Razz can see me now."

Ushas sniffed quietly. "As much as I am sure you'd like to reminisce on old times, I came here for a reason other than socialising with two of the few sane members of Magical Britain."

"That's a shame," the man said. "Anyway, why can't you keep addressing each other as Harry and Hermione while I'm here? Those Gallifreyan names are…weird."

"This coming from a man who was born to a family who named their children after stars. Sirius Black, anyone?" Ushas, aka Hermione Granger, snapped irritably, though with a wry nature that, in her previous lives, wasn't there as much. "And who is part of a society with the strangest names. Severus Snape? Remus Lupin? At least my parents in this life were naming me from Shakespeare, even if it got me bullied."

"Hey, take it easy, Queen," Sirius said with a smirk, only to get a stinging hex for his troubles.

"Dog," Hermione snapped, albeit with a faint smirk. She then turned her gaze to Harry. "Have you discovered the problem yet?"

"No. Keep in mind that I am trying to recreate a TARDIS from scratch, and from relatively primitive technology and materials. Hedin provided me with an old one when I based myself in Amsterdam, but I never got around to examining all the improvements made on the time machines I was creating. Another factor is that, aside from us, the Time Lords do not exist in this universe. That may explain why this TARDIS can go anywhere in space, but in terms of time, can only move relatively slowly. Oh, we can time travel, but not as well as a standard TARDIS. Even Daleks could probably travel better through time."

Hermione sniffed. "Better than nothing, I suppose, and we don't need the time travel capability at this moment. I believe I'm beginning to see what little charm the Doctor saw in this planet."

"I saw it in Amsterdam," Harry said. "One of the first things I saw when I got a copy of his body was a calliope. A primitive entertainment device, and yet…it was something that was the first to tell me for a long time that I had a soul left to be stirred. I enjoyed our trip there, actually."

"You enjoyed it partly because we succumbed to our carnal impulses," Hermione pointed out. "I generally do not indulge in pleasures of the flesh, but I have to admit, I did enjoy that. But I still hate having to use primitive personal Chameleon technology to make us look our ages, in terms of birth certificates, amongst these Lotophagous(3) primitives. Their indolence is almost on a par with our former people, Peylix. They're almost as bad as the Lakertyans(4). At least most of the mundanes have some sort of drive, especially for a Level 5 planet."

Sirius scowled, albeit a mock scowl. "I resemble that remark!"

After a moment, Harry looked up at Hermione, and said, "You know, Ushas, I believe I know why we keep him around."

"Because he's a barely housetrained pet?" Hermione asked.

"Hey!" yelped Sirius.

"No, because he's like the Doctor, only without that weary moralising," Harry said.

Hermione shrugged. "True. Though the Doctor is at least barely tolerable company. If we ever meet a reincarnation of the Master, I will be introducing him to the joys of genital trauma via repeated blows with the knee."

"Rather unscientific, Ushas," Harry observed.

"True, but I did it before(5). It was immensely satisfying, and as you are well aware, being a scientist yourself, any experiment bears repeating. To whit: does kneeing the Master repeatedly in the groin give me pleasure? I will have to content myself with the next Death Eater we capture. A shame we didn't get to catch Pettigrew. I would have enjoyed vivisecting him."

Sirius blinked, before he said, "I've said it before, I'll say it again: you have a very unhealthy obsession with cutting people open."

"I believe Borusa was the first to say that to me," Hermione said archly. "And I told him that, as he was my mathematics and mental protection tutor, he had no call to lecture me about biology. The last I heard from that fool the Master, he had gotten himself frozen in the Tomb of Rassilon. Then again, he was already a petrified relic, being turned to stone would not have made much difference(6)." She pursed her lips as she walked over to the central console. "A shame we cannot travel back in time efficiently. I would have liked to procure a T-Rex embryo again to experiment on."

"And I want to be able to get the damned rat," Sirius scowled.

"As we have explained to you before, Padfoot, we cannot do so once we have experienced the events. We were stretching things using that Time Turner during your escape, and we tried to find him then. Unfortunately, Time Lords experiencing time does fix the causal nexus to a degree. That also includes meddling with my family before my rebirth," Harry said. He stripped the coveralls off to reveal a slender but athletic form, clad in what looked like an Edwardian-style cricketing outfit. The shirt's lapels had a pair of symbols that looked vaguely like a curvy W, like so: ω.

"You still affect the dress of your foe?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry smirked. "I look no less eccentric than anyone else here. I'm sure that if any incarnation of the Doctor walked through this place, nobody would bat an eye."

"Hmm. That's true. Even the Doctor's sixth incarnation. Only Dumbledore dresses worse than he does," Hermione mused.

"True. But you're one to talk, Miss Leather Trousers and Shiny Jacket(7)," Harry said with a smile. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you look great in those, but even so…"

"Enough of the fripperies," Hermione said. "The Weasleys are impatient to see you. They thought it odd that you weren't at the Dursleys."

"I told them that was the case," Harry said. "As for the Dursleys…well, I'm sure you can do with more specimens for research."

Hermione smirked, rather scarily. "You know me so well, Peylix. Are they in storage here?"

"Yes, but be warned: they are naked in the stasis tanks, and it may give you at least two regenerations' worth of nightmares."

Hermione snorted. "My human parents are medical professionals. My father is a forensic odontologist, and my mother is one of the best oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the United Kingdom. I have read medical texts since I was five. And even back on Gallifrey, I had an interest in biology. They may be repulsive, but they won't stick in my mind as nightmare fuel. We'll leave that until after the game finishes. I want to have a leisurely time taking them apart."

Harry chuckled at her words. "If I didn't know any better, my dear Ushas, I would believe you to be an unrepentant sadist."

"I only take pleasure in the science," Hermione said. "That, and ensuring such…repulsive primitives do not harm you any longer. I swear, abusing you because you had an ability to manipulate artron energy in a way that these primitives consider to be magic. What petty fools these humans are."

"Present company excluded, I hope?" Sirius asked, only to receive a chilly stare from Hermione.

"Have you given him flea powder lately?" Hermione asked.

"No. He actually bathes when you ask him to," Harry said. He then turned to Sirius. "I've set up the cloaked drone that will be accompanying us to be able to project the Quidditch game to the scanner screen." He pointed to the screen on the wall. "This way, you don't have to risk anyone seeing you, especially anyone who knows your Animagus form."

"Hey, I'll take it," Sirius said with a smile. "You take care, Pup, okay?"

"I will, but don't forget, Sirius, Hermione and I are technically older than you…by thousands of years between us," Harry said. "I hope you enjoy the game…"

* * *

Emerging from the tent, Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Harry proffered a crooked elbow. "May I do you the honour of escorting you, my _Rani?_ "

Hermione smiled, and took his arm. "I believe I will accept that, _Omega_."

And with that exchange, a pair of former renegades of Time Lord society strode through a city of tents, arm in arm. Unlikely lovers, but lovers all the same, united in a world of primitives, and a society of so-called mages so backward, they made the notoriously stagnant society of the Time Lords look progressive by comparison. They were colossi striding well above others. And Merlin help Magical Britain if someone truly pissed them off, for nobody else would…

 **CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Hoo boy. I never thought I would do this. And what a crazy pairing, huh? I mean, for those familiar with the classic series, people are thinking "** ** _WTF?! Did you just pair OMEGA and the RANI?!_** **" Then again, dudelove85's recently-started** ** _Doctor Who_** **crossover** ** _The Last President of Gallifrey_** **has Hermione turning out to be** ** _Romana_** **, of all people. Incidentally, I highly recommend that crossover.**

 **For those NOT familiar with the classic series, allow me to elucidate. I have taken two of the most criminally underutilised villains from** ** _Doctor Who_** **: namely Omega and the Rani. And I have reincarnated them as Harry and Hermione respectively. We'll learn more about their history in this world later. However, I will give a brief history of the two villains for those unfamiliar with them.**

 **Omega was one of Rassilon's partners in revolutionising Gallifrey, and was responsible for harnessing the power source that they needed for their time travel. In the process, Omega was sucked into a black hole, stranded in an anti-matter universe, believing he was abandoned by the Time Lords. Although the Doctor considered him a hero, Omega wanted to be more. He appeared in the TV stories** ** _The Three Doctors_** **and** ** _Arc of Infinity_** **, as well as the audio stories** ** _Omega_** **and** ** _Gallifrey: Intervention Earth_** **. As far as this story is concerned, all but the events of** ** _Gallifrey: Intervention Earth_** **are canonical. His true name, as revealed by** ** _Omega_** **, was Peylix, but Omega was an insulting nickname relating to a failing grade spitefully given to him by a teacher who believed his theories were insane.**

 **The Rani was one of the Doctor's contemporaries at the Academy on Gallifrey. Brilliant, particularly in biology, the Rani was also utterly amoral, and was exiled from Gallifrey after an incident involving the President's cat and mutated mice. She views everything as secondary to her research, and will gladly take over entire worlds to have the populace act as her specimens. She appeared in the TV stories** ** _The Mark of the Rani_** **and** ** _Time and the Rani_** **, as well as the audio stories** ** _The Rani Elite_** **and** ** _Planet of the Rani_** **. Oh, and she appeared in the novels (which aren't considered canon for this story)** ** _Divided Loyalties_** **(as Ushas, her student self) and** ** _State of Change_** **. Given that she is called Ushas in the audio** ** _The Rani Elite_** **, a name originally given to her in** ** _Divided Loyalties_** **, that is her canon real name here.**

 **Why these two? Well, Omega is a bit Dark Lordy (especially how he looks in** ** _The Three Doctors_** **), and at times, he is rather sympathetic, so I thought it'd be interesting to have Harry as Omega's reincarnation. I nearly had Hermione as the reincarnation of Sentia from** ** _Omega_** **, but I eventually decided to use another Time Lord instead, especially given how Omega treats Sentia in the later stages of the story. Sentia was too much of a fangirl, anyway, Ginny Weasley-style. I thought the Rani suited Hermione being somewhat Ravenclaw-like. Of course, regeneration being what it is, while Hermione is still very much amoral as the Rani, she at least has a sense of humour, and loves Harry/Omega, after her own fashion.**

 **Incidentally, one thing that I am changing from the version posted in** ** _The Cauldron_** **is that I am having the chapters taken from the titles of** ** _Doctor Who_** **stories, novels, or Big Finish audios. I did that, admittedly, with** ** _Gorgon and Thanatos_** **, my Harry Potter crossover with** ** _Fate/Zero_** **, but this time, it's a little more appropriate.**

 **Also, for this story, I'm doing what some people do, and posting a recommended read/listening for Harry Potter and** ** _Doctor Who_** **. For the former, it will always be a fanfic. For the latter, it will be either one of the classic series stories (I feel that people familiar only with the new series need to watch some of the better stories of the classic seris), or one of the officially-sanctioned Big Finish audio dramas, as I don't have that many fanfics favourited, and many of the novels are now out of print.**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation: Here will be the only two for one recommendations, one for each. Firstly,** ** _The Last President of Gallifrey_** **by dudelove85. I already recommended that fanfic, albeit informally, but this is a more formal recommendation. This story has Hermione, during the events of** ** _The Deathly Hallows_** **, finding a Chameleon Arch and becoming Romana. It was one of the main inspirations for this fic.**

 **Secondly,** ** _Appetite for Power_** **by DZ2. As it was DZ2's challenges that helped inspire this story, I thought I'd recommend my personal favourite of their stories. It's certainly one of the less dark ones, at least in comparison to some of their other stories.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation: Again, I'm doing what will be the only time I will recommend two at once: namely the Big Finish audio stories** ** _Omega_** **by Nev Fountain, and** ** _The Rani Elite_** **by Justin Richards. Both reintroduced their respective villains into the Big Finish canon, and both are good stories.** ** _Omega_** **is an at turns darkly comic and disturbing story that looks at how history can warp anyone's reputation, with the late Ian Collier (who played Omega in** ** _Arc of Infinity_** **) playing the deranged Time Lord.** ** _The Rani Elite_** **is a brilliant reintroduction of the Rani, now played by the brilliantly icy Siobhan Redmond, who I personally think is better than the late, great Kate O'Mara. And while the plot may sound familiar to those familiar with the Rani's TV adventures, it's done way better than ever on TV.**

 **1\. The Pythia was the head of a powerful religious movement dominating early Gallifrey in the novels, and Rassilon overthrew her. While not all of the novels are canon IMO, I wanted to add this little touch.**

 **2\. In** ** _The Mind of Evil_** **, the Doctor claims an aspirin can kill him.**

 **3\. Meaning 'lotus eater-like', or indolent.**

 **4\. A reptilian race enslaved by the Rani in** ** _Time and the Rani_** **.**

 **5\. In** ** _Mark of the Rani_** **. Let's just say he tried to molest the bumps of her TARDIS' console.**

 **6\. The Master was referring to the events of** ** _The Five Doctors_** **. It's possible he witnessed them, as he was tied up on the floor at the time, though whether he was unconscious seems to be debatable.**

 **7\. What the Rani wears during the latter half of** ** _Mark of the Rani_** **. Most of the time, she's wearing ragged clothes to disguise herself as the owner of a washhouse in a coal mining town.**


	3. Chapter 2: Amorality Tale

**CHAPTER 2:**

 **AMORALITY TALE**

Neither Omega nor the Rani ever put much stock in superstition. Omega lived at a time when the Pythia ruled Gallifrey, before Rassilon's revolution overthrew her (and narrowly avoided a curse of sterility(1)), and the last remnants of her followers became the Sisterhood of Karn in exile. The Rani thought of science and logic as supreme, and focused on biology rather than metaphysics.

And yet, here they were, reincarnated on another world. In human bodies. The hows escaped them, and aggravated them, but they were not averse to taking advantage of the situation to begin anew. Both, after all, were infamous renegades back where they came from, both adversaries of the most infamous renegade of them all, the Doctor, whom the Rani knew at the Academy under his nickname of Theta Sigma or 'Thete', as Drax used to say.

They had both ended up in the same black hole, in the Sector of Forgotten Souls, the very one Omega created in the first place. The Rani's TARDIS had been sabotaged by one of the many aliens she had as minions and experimental subjects. It wasn't the first time it had happened: the Doctor had sabotaged her TARDIS during that incident involving the Master, and the Tetraps hijacked the TARDIS after her plans on Lakertya failed. But those times, she managed to get out of it. This time, though…she didn't. As the TARDIS plummeted into the black hole, out of control, the Rani's last thoughts were of being torn apart. Her end, ironically enough, was witnessed by tourists on the Jolly Chronolidays tourist centre nearby, based on a replica of Omega's legendary ship, the _Eurydice_. She had cursed her own end, even as she was torn apart, and would have done anything for a second chance.

Mere months later, a deranged Omega, in a copy of the body of the Doctor and believing himself to BE the Doctor, ended up at that very site. A series of events happened, ending with Omega falling into the black hole once more, seeing Sentia, the woman who wanted to be his wife, torn apart by the gravitational forces(2). In his sorrow and fury and madness, he allowed his will to be scattered by the forces within the singularity. Before he died, he only wished that he could find happiness in another life, and with another, one who could at least approach his intelligence. One who could appreciate it, complement it, and in a world without the Doctor or the meddling Time Lords. Omega, once known as Peylix, just wanted a life to lead.

And the singularity, the force he once harnessed for god-like power, granted him that wish. And that of the Rani.

Harry didn't regain his memories until a much later time, but he clashed with his relatives repeatedly, especially where academic brilliance was concerned. He eclipsed Dudley, and refused to back down when his relatives tried to force him to dumb himself down. Harry felt a need to prove himself.

So too did Hermione. She was distant from everyone, part of her evaluating everyone she met as potential test subjects and specimens. Few wanted to be her friend, save for the advantages it gave in getting homework done. But at the same time, part of her still yearned for friends, or at least a friend, an intelligent one who she could talk to on another level. Oh, she had her parents' love, something that she actually enjoyed in this life, even once she regained her memories.

That had happened in their second year, at the Deathday Party for Nearly-Headless Nick. Peeves, ever the prankster, had noticed something about them, and, knowing he would cause chaos, did something to them both that unlocked their memories. Harry had promptly collapsed, while Hermione left almost immediately, in shock, trying to reconcile her memories. Hence, she was petrified by the Basilisk, the first victim.

Once, the Rani had created special landmines that converted anyone who stepped on them into trees, effectively petrifying them alive. Now petrified herself, she had to wait for several months before she could be revived. Thankfully, she could put her consciousness into a trance to avoid going insane, though at other times, she went over her newfound memories, and began formulating ways to regain her Time Lord physiology. She also knew, having seen Harry's reaction, that he too was a Time Lord, due to a faint telepathic signature. But which one? She sincerely hoped it wasn't the Master, or indeed any of the small clique she belonged to at the Academy, called the Deca(3). It was something of a relief to learn that it was Omega, despite the fact that she had heard from her contacts on Gallifrey that Omega turned out to be a ranting madman.

But the Harry she knew was a more thoughtful person. Yes, a bit arrogant and opinionated, but as the 'Ravens within the Lion's Den' (they had argued with the Hat that Gryffindor's academic standards could do with raising, and the Hat eventually plumped for agreeing with them), they had a friendship stronger than Harry had with most of his other students, including Ron Weasley. Oh, they were friends for a given definition, but Harry and Hermione had the stronger bond.

After learning he was a Parselmouth, Harry, or rather, Omega soon found the Chamber, and intercepted Ginny, destroying the diary and removing her infatuation with him through a bit of psychic surgery. She became infinitely more tolerable company, though Omega actually preferred the company of her eccentric Ravenclaw friend, Luna Lovegood, who seemed to know more than she let on. Indeed, he and the Rani soon learned she had an interesting secret. He had also managed to bind the half-maddened Basilisk to him. Said Basilisk was now in a new, city-sized chamber within his TARDIS, with Omega buying livestock to feed it. And the Basilisk had never been happier.

Omega and the Rani, once the latter had been freed from her petrification (Omega, as Harry, had offered to pay for imported mandrakes, which Snape accepted), had a private discussion. They learned of who they really were, and accepted each other for it. They decided to embark on projects to bring back their Time Lord physiologies (well, the Rani's: Omega had vanished into the black hole before Rassilon began embarking on altering Time Lords through genetic engineering, but he wouldn't say no to having two hearts like he did when inhabiting a copy of the Doctor's body), as well as recreate a TARDIS. After choosing their subjects for their third year, they deliberately chose enough that Professor McGonagall would give them Time Turners, which they could also use to begin using as the base for their new TARDIS. The lack of sleep didn't bother them: Time Lords could function without sleep for far longer periods than humans with less side effects, and once they regained that physiology, that helped.

The Rani's project, recreating Time Lord physiology, was easy. The pair of them discovered that, when they re-awoke their Time Lord memories, they also gained a special, unique ability to their magic. Omega had the ability to shape and manipulate matter at a basic level, even convert it into antimatter, making it a powerful offensive weapon, as well as being able to create servants similar to the Gel Guards or the Ergon, though doing anything other than simple matter-antimatter conversion took an effort and a lot of energy, even with magic. He also had the ability to manipulate gravity to an extraordinary degree. The Rani, on the other hand, could vivisect her targets alive, and put them back together, with or without harming them in any way. She could also bring them under her control, like she used specially enhanced maggots to take control of certain people…something the Master took advantage of when he meddled in her plans to try and one-up the Doctor. The Rani managed to use a combination of that ability, along with a specially created vector virus, to transform them into Time Lords.

Of course, they had other distractions to deal with in that year: namely learning that Harry's godfather had escaped from Azkaban, the Minister in his infinite (or rather, infinitesimal) wisdom had posted Dementors around Hogwarts, and their DADA teacher was a werewolf. Although Hermione, as the freshly reborn Rani (well, by several months, but that was generally a short time to a Time Lord who could live for centuries if not millennia), merely saw Remus Lupin as a research opportunity.

During his attempts to create a TARDIS in the Chamber of Secrets, Omega actually created a time manipulation field similar to the Time Turners, only they sped up time within the field, and to help the pair of them learn more of the knowledge in this world, Omega and the Rani studied. Because they spent quite a while in the field, they began to age faster than they normally would. But this was fine: Time Lord childhood and adolescence was similar enough to human adolescence. Omega created something not unlike a TARDIS' Chameleon Circuit that would make them appear their normal ages. By the end of their third year, their bodies were now 17, when Hermione was meant to be 14, and Harry 13, coming up to his 14th birthday.

They eventually decided to drop Divination and Muggle Studies at the end of the year: the former was virtually useless, and the latter was, for the most part, out of date, with the most recent discussion of technology, at best, being radio and the car. The textbook itself dated from the 1930s, and was never updated since, despite the protests of the teacher, Charity Burbage, who was considerably more up to date: she at least knew of nuclear weapons and spaceflight, though electronics and computers were a little more tricky. But by then, the Time Turners had done their job, and Omega was able to fake breaking one of them in order to steal the sands within, which turned out to be a strange mixture of Taranium and Kontron crystals(4), which accounted for the rarity of the substance. But then again, both were not normally found on Earth, though what little literature there was on Time Turners suggested that the sand was created through alchemy.

Another alchemy of sorts was the growing relationship between them. What started as a purely platonic friendship and alliance began to grow into love. Omega never thought he would love again, as the last woman he did (admittedly an obsessive fangirl) got killed, and the Rani considered love to be a chemical imbalance. However, as their time together grew, so too did the realisation that they were growing in affection. While Omega had long since disappeared into the black hole when the Rani was born, she had never been one to hero-worship him (the Doctor had been an Omega fanboy, though, and the Rani later heard rumours that somehow, the Doctor had gained control over the famed stellar controller known as the Hand of Omega, and tricked Davros into destroying Skaro with it(5)). Considering that they were both by this point millennia old in terms of mental age, such age differences didn't exactly cut it.

What united them were a number of things: being opposed by the Doctor and having their plans thwarted by him; being scientists who were prodigies in their respective fields; a contempt for the dullards who comprised the masses; and an eagerness to start afresh. As they saw the inequities inherent in Magical Britain, and indeed in magical society the world over, they also began to get ambitious. And not long after they both reached the biological age of 16, they became lovers.

The first major rift between the pair and Ron happened when Harry, after losing his broom after an incident involving Dementors, was sent another one, the latest one. Hermione had taken it to McGonagall, worried that the anonymous broom had been cursed by an enemy, possibly Sirius Black. Even then, the pair had doubts about Sirius' guilt: the story seemed to have a few holes. But Ron believed that Hermione acted without caring about Harry's feelings, and while Omega did believe that the Rani did act rather precipitously, he viewed it as her actually caring about him. The fact that, even with her memories restored, someone like the Rani COULD care about him was a surprise.

The second, and more serious, rift happened when Scabbers, later revealed to be Wormtail, was apparently attacked and eaten by Crookshanks. Despite trying to mediate between the two, Harry was all but given an ultimatum by Ron, to ditch Hermione, or sever their friendship. Harry opted to do the latter, much to Ron's surprise and anger. Harry pointed out that Scabbers was old, decrepit, and not long for this world. Not to mention a hand-me-down from Percy that Ron had called useless before anyway. Harry had offered to buy Ron an owl, but Ron, in his anger at Harry defending Hermione, refused.

Pride and prejudice had shattered a friendship, not wholly beyond repair, but even when Ron rediscovered Scabbers, there was a cooling of the relationship between them that remained. The truth was, it wasn't Ron's obnoxious and opinionated attitude that put them off: Ron was, in the end, a decent enough person. But it was his lack of intelligence, or rather, his laziness with his intelligence. He was intelligent enough to play chess and play it well, but he didn't do anything else with what had to be a decent intelligence, something that was anathema to Omega and the Rani. Ron didn't exercise his intellect beyond chess. He didn't want to learn anything he didn't want to. In short, they had become incompatible, and the embryonic Golden Trio dissolved.

They managed to learn the full truth from Sirius about what happened, but thanks to a number of factors (Snape being a dick, Remus forgetting his potion, and the Dementors deciding to attack), they were forced to rescue Sirius using first their Time Turner, and then their prototype TARDIS recreation. After that, Omega and the Rani were pissed to learn that Snape had deliberately outed Remus as a werewolf…which the pair of them took delight in revenging themselves. Now, Snape didn't serve two masters…or rather, not the two masters he served before. Instead of being caught between Dumbledore and Voldemort, he was now forced to serve beings he once denigrated as beneath him, only to realise too late that they were his superior by far. Omega found the irony of enslaving Snape as his spy in Dumbledore's camp appealing, especially as he learned, through telepathy (Gallifreyan telepathy bypassing Occlumency rather handily), that Snape had once loved his mother, a love that later became a twisted obsession. For goodness' sake, Snape wanted Voldemort to spare Lily alone out of the Potters solely so that he could have her to himself, even thinking of making her into his sex slave if (or rather, knowing Lily, when) she refused.

In any case, they kept their friendship with the Twins, and with Percy, oddly enough, but their relationship with the younger Weasley children had become distant. Even so, they were heading there even now.

* * *

In Old High Gallifreyan, Omega said to the Rani, " _Look at these humans, these wizards and witches, scrambling around without heed or care, even to try and conceal themselves. Fools._ "

" _You're not saying anything I don't already know_ ," the Rani sniffed. " _Incidentally, I ran into Luna earlier. I ran our proposal by her, and she seems willing, as long as she can keep her body as an interface._ "

" _Hopefully, we can_ ," Omega mused. " _We'll discuss this later. Time to put on the masks._ "

The Rani nodded, and as they approached the Weasley tent, they put on the mask of relatively normal people, humans. Intelligent, haughty humans, but humans all the same. The time had not yet come to reveal the full extent of their true selves to Magical Britain.

At least not yet…

 **CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, the history of how Omega and the Rani came to be in the Potterverse. And is there something involving Luna? Well, DZ2's review for the first chapter in** ** _The Cauldron_** **gave me an idea…**

 **Next, the riot! And Omega and the Rani let loose…**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _The Best Revenge_** **by the late Arsinoe de Blassenville. One of the best Harry Potter fanfics I have ever read,** ** _period_** **. Its sequel,** ** _The Best Revenge: Time of the Basilisk_** **, is just as good. If you want a good Severitus story, look no further.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _The Chimes of Midnight_** **by Robert Shearman. This audio story is, in my opinion, the best to feature Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. At turns both disturbing and darkly comic, it's basically** ** _Downton Abbey_** **mixed with a murder mystery and a timeloop. Some of the story's first episode helped inspire the Shadow Demesne in my story** ** _Just a Touch of Kleptomania_** **…**

 **1\. In the novels, the Pythia, upon being overthrown, committed suicide, but not before cursing Gallifrey to sterility, ensuring that the Time Lords would have to be born from special biological engineering engines known as looms. Here, this was avoided, in order to keep continuity with the actual TV show, particularly the new series.**

 **2\. While how the Rani came into the Potterverse was made up (and presumably takes place, for her, much later in her life after** ** _Planet of the Rani_** **), how Omega was wasn't, more or less, though it disregards** ** _Gallifrey: Intervention Earth_** **. I basically summarised the events of the audio story** ** _Omega_** **, albeit in heavily abridged form.**

 **3\. In the novel** ** _Divided Loyalties_** **, the Deca was a group of ten Time Lord students. Amongst them included the Time Lords who would become the Doctor (then known by the nickname of Thete or Theta Sigma), the Master, the Rani, the Meddling Monk, Drax (from** ** _The Armageddon Factor_** **) and the War Chief (from** ** _The War Games_** **). The Deca are mentioned in** ** _The Rani Elite_** **, so while the novel may not be canon (for this work, anyway), the Deca are.**

 **4\. Both are exotic materials relating to time manipulation. Taranium was a vital part of Dalek time-manipulation technology in the Hartnell era, with a time machine powered by a small amount of the substance being used in** ** _The Dalek Masterplan_** **. Even more vital to the story was a canister of Taranium used as the power source for a Dalek superweapon, the Time Destructor. Kontron crystals were part of the titular time corridor in** ** _Timelash_** **. The Doctor used them as a personal weapon to make himself invisible, as well as absorb and redirect time-acceleration beams.**

 **5\. Which happened in** ** _Remembrance of the Daleks_** **.**


	4. Chapter 3: Masquerade

**CHAPTER 3:**

 **MASQUERADE**

Omega had found Quidditch was getting increasingly tedious as time went by. He found engineering, particularly space-time and stellar engineering, more and more interesting. Oh, he enjoyed playing Quidditch, actually being there, part of the action. But watching it? He found the antics of the mascots more interesting, and indeed amusing. And some of the manoeuvres that the Bulgarian Seeker, Krum, pulled off were pretty good. But just watching the sport paled, especially in close proximity to the Malfoys. He hadn't forgotten that they were responsible for the diary, and extorting Lucius into giving up Dobby hadn't been satisfying enough. Dobby had helped him and the Rani while they were embarked on their projects in their third year, though he wasn't pleased about the Rani vivisecting him a few times.

So, once the game had finished, they both headed back to Omega's TARDIS. As they entered, Sirius, who had been sitting in a chair watching the scanner screen, smiled. "Not quite as good as being there, but better than nothing. I remember Lily showing us football matches on a television."

"Looks like the remote drone we used as a success," Omega remarked. "I think there may have been someone sitting in the seat next to us, though, the one that House Elf, Winky, was keeping aside for Crouch. Someone tried to take my wand. I think the trap I left on it worked, though, pinning them to place via gravity. Not too much, but they were discouraged from doing it to me."

"Maybe it was a pervert trying to grope you," the Rani remarked. "Keep in mind that you have stalkers. Remember Creevey."

They spun around when the TARDIS doors suddenly opened, only for a blonde witch with wide, pale eyes to skip in. She looked around, before remarking, "You went with the basic desktop theme? Hmm, it's lacking a certain something."

"Luna, you won't be redecorating the TARDIS yet," Omega said. "And even when you're part of one again, we'd like more functionality than form."

" _Boring_ ," Luna Lovegood pouted. "I was a Type 70 TARDIS, and this is barely even a Type 40. I mean, beggars can't be choosers, but I want to be able to jazz it up. Have the walls like that Doctor's coat, the one with the curly blonde hair."

"Oh, Other, no(1)," the Rani groaned. "Luna, you were once the consciousness of my TARDIS. You seem to forget who is in charge here."

Luna poked her tongue out. "You're not my mother. Who was, incidentally, a Type 70 production birthing matrix on Gallifrey. Or Pandora Lovegood, depending on which life you mean."

The Rani put a hand to her head. "I don't have time for dealing with a wilful TARDIS matrix," she muttered. "Peylix, if you don't mind, I'm going to vivisect the Dursleys for stress relief. You want to watch?"

"Certainly, Ushas," Omega said.

* * *

It was cathartic, watching the Rani take the Dursleys apart cell by cell, and gene by gene, while they were still alive and conscious to appreciate the fact. They had treated him with contempt and hatred, and he knew, looking through their minds, that they would have murdered him years ago if they were sure they could get away with it. The Rani turned them into puddles of biological matter…which Omega reformed using his own powers.

A couple of hours later, he had turned what was left of his uncle and cousin into Gel Guards, crimson blobs of matter with a single eye, capable of emitting no noise but grotesque bubbling growls, and with the ability to fire blasts of energy. It amused him to turn his aunt into another Ergon, a tall, emaciated creature with a vaguely pterosaur-like skull. All three obedient to his will(2).

And just as well, for Sirius dashed in, as did Luna. "Omega! Rani! There're Death Eaters rioting outside!"

Omega sighed. Although he wasn't as…moral as he was when he was Harry Potter, he had regained a bit of a regard for bystanders. Or maybe it was a result of absorbing some of the Doctor's memories when he had obtained his body. Of course, it was the fact that these Death Eaters had offended him, following a hypocritical Dark Lord who used petty tricks to extend his life.

Well, tonight was perhaps as good a time as any to make his debut. But not without the right kind of costume…

* * *

Lucius Malfoy was having the time of his life. Nothing allowed him to blow off some steam than blowing up tents and tormenting some Muggles. No killing or torturing them, sadly, but humiliating them and scaring them would have to do. And those imbeciles from the Ministry daren't do a thing to them, partly because of that fool Dumbledore preventing them from doing anything harmful, and partly because they might drop the Muggles they were holding aloft.

So it was rather spoiled when the Muggles were suddenly wrenched out of the air, and headed to the ground, screaming, only to halt suddenly in front of a most extraordinary figure.

His costume seemed to be a mixture of metallic robes and armour. His helmet was elaborate, the faceplate having two eyes and a mouth, and no other features, set in a perpetual scowl. The faceplate seemed to rise into a triptych of crests or horns(3). Flanking him were a pair of crimson blobs with a single eye each, glurping and growling.

He made a gesture, and the Muggles were safely down on the ground. "My apologies. I should have come here sooner," the figure said in a deep, resonant voice to the Muggles. "Get behind me."

"Who are you to interfere?!" hissed Macnair to Malfoy's left. Malfoy winced. The figure had to be a powerful wizard to pull the Muggles out of the air from out of the spell, and as drunk as Malfoy was, he didn't want to antagonise this wizard without understanding who he was first.

"Who indeed? I am your better, Death Eater. The beginning of your end. I…am…OMEGA!" The figure spread his arms dramatically, and Malfoy, after a moment, wondered whether this was some long-lost relative of Voldemort, or perhaps even Grindlewald.

"REDUCTO!" Crabbe Senior roared, sending a jet of light the figure's way. The figure merely swatted it aside with a gauntlet-clad hand.

"Ah, a volunteer ant about to meet a boot," Omega said jovially. Suddenly, Crabbe seemed to fall to his knees, and then to his belly. Then, with a disgusting squelch, as if squashed beneath a foot, his bulk exploded, gore contaminating his robes. "I find your lack of nous disturbing."

That proved to be the cue for battle to begin. The odds were stacked against this Omega, whoever or whatever he was, and yet, he either swatted aside spells, or dodged them. And there were Death Eaters being squashed or imploding all around Lucius. Some even seemed to flare briefly from positive to negative, before exploding messily, whenever he pointed at them.

The two blob things also raised tentacles that fired beams of light that destroyed whatever they touched. They slid over and absorbed the remains of the slain Death Eaters, and grew larger. Eventually, they split apart, multiplying, increasing the forces at Omega's command.

"Those who oppose the will of Omega shall not live!" Omega roared.

* * *

The Rani, after hearing that on the scanner screen, facepalmed. "Oh, Other, he is enjoying this too much. I thought he had grown out of being hammy…well, mostly."

"It's not so bad," Luna said. "The Master was much worse. And you've made some hammy speeches in your time."

"I have never!" the Rani snapped.

Luna merely cleared her throat, and then, using the voice of the Rani's first incarnation, declared, " _I HAVE THE LOYHARGIL! NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW!_ " Then, Luna said, in her normal voice, "I remember hearing that over our telepathic link. And how did it end up, exactly? Oh, yes, that's right, with the Doctor thwarting your plans, and the Tetraps infesting and hijacking me to take us to Tetrapyriarbus. And it took weeks to clean all that four-eyed alien bat shit out of my corridors(4)."

Sirius looked at the Rani. "Is that Luna being Luna, or…?"

The Rani scowled. "Sadly, she is being all too accurate, as much as I hate admitting it. But I keep a tighter control on my emotions than…that clown out there. Then again, he is better than the Master." Then, a faint smirk twitched at her features. "Though that wouldn't be difficult. And I have to admit, I am enjoying him showing those Death Eaters the _gravity_ of the situation."

"Do you think he would appreciate having a copy of the Master's TCE?" Luna asked.

"As long as it didn't look like an oversized matte black vibrator, yes(5)," the Rani said. "I'll give that fool the Master one thing: a Tissue Compression Eliminator IS an interesting weapon. Actually, I think I would like one. I will ask Omega to make me one."

"Tissue Compression what?" Sirius asked.

"Basically a gun that shrinks people," Luna said. "It doesn't just shrink organic matter: it used the principle of matter condensation. Very lethal to most beings." She clapped her hands together. "Oh! Rani! I've just had a most wonderful idea! Can we collect those we kill with the TCE? I want them to be my dolls in my dollhouse!"

The Rani merely sighed, and looked at Sirius. "See what I have to deal with? She was much better stuck in my TARDIS…"

* * *

Omega was enjoying himself immensely, pinning Death Eaters to the ground and squashing them into gory jam with gravity, briefly forming a singularity within their bodies for just long enough for their bodies to implode messily, or converting just enough of their bodies into antimatter to make them explode in a satisfying manner. Only a minuscule amount: even a single gram would create an explosion comparable with a nuclear weapon, and he wanted to kill them messily, not wipe himself out and most of the surrounding area.

There were a number of reasons he was doing this. He was enjoying killing these scumbags. He felt a small but significant amount of righteous anger at them being allowed to do this. And he wanted to make a good first impression as the coming Dark Lord, Omega, and felt this was the way to do it. The wisest ones Apparated away. Eventually, even Malfoy did. And soon, all that was left was corpses, which his Gel Guards consumed.

The Ministry sheeple who had been watching the massacre were still staring at him, before one of them, Arthur, as it turned out, regained his voice. "Who are you? What are you?"

"I am Omega. And I am something far beyond your comprehension, little wizard," Omega replied, thanking whatever gods that did exist that the helmet changed his voice into something like the one he once had. "I believe the Obliviators need to speak to the family behind me."

"And the Aurors will be speaking to you," Amos Diggory said, his wand at the ready.

"I am above all laws. I also just removed a group of murderers and rapists from your midst. Try to impede me from leaving, and it will be painful for you."

Before they could object, someone in the distance roared, "MORSMORDRE!" And a skull with a snake crawling out of the mouth appeared in the night sky over a nearby forest, outlined in green light. With that handy distraction, Omega activated a hidden control on his gauntlet, and shimmered out of existence, along with the Gel Guards. The wizards would think of Apparition, but they wouldn't know about transmat beams, would they? Still, it was time they left. He would linger long enough to make sure the Weasleys were fine via drone, and Luna's father was fine, before leaving…

* * *

The man once known as Barty Crouch Junior cackled softly to himself as he fled through the woods, a stolen wand in his grasp. Oh, it wasn't Potter's, but he couldn't get that without being shocked. Actually, he would have to thank Potter. Without that shock, he wouldn't have remembered who he truly was. Or rather, those memories he had seen, that he had dismissed as hallucinations caused by the Dementors, were very real.

It was frustrating and yet liberating to have full command of his memories again. Frustrating, because he knew that he wasn't in the same universe as the Doctor. And yet, liberating because he now had an existence of his own, not that vague tenuous one that he had been forced to endure, like Schrödinger's Cat, caught between existence and oblivion. Even the Time Lords bringing him into stronger existence to use against the Doctor only had him realise how fragile his existence truly was.

Okay, he was stuck in the body of a human, even if it was one who could wield magic. And said body had been trapped, first in Azkaban, and then in his biological father's home. A father who was as bad as some of the dried-up old sticks back home.

But now, he knew. He knew the truth. And as much as he had been loyal to the Dark Lord…he was looking out for himself now.

He dodged a Stunner fired in his direction, though given that no more followed, and he could hear Weasley shouting about his son in the distance, he guessed that it was wholly incidental. He continued running through the woods, only to finally come out a minute or so later, near the various tents. A few were, miraculously, still standing.

Barty smiled. Now, what to do next? He needed to find a way to track down his lord and master. Or maybe he could visit revenge on that dried-up turd of a father of his. Or maybe…

Suddenly, a distinctive noise reached his ears, stirring memory. It was like the roar of ancient machinery, like a pair of maddened elephants mating, like the very fabric of space and time being torn a new orifice, like a bored and ingenious sound effects designer scraping a house key against a piano wire and fiddling with the resulting sound(6). Barty _knew_ that sound. It was the sound of a TARDIS dematerialising. Once heard, never forgotten.

He had seen Potter and Granger enter a particular tent earlier after the game, having stalked them to try and see what he could do to them. But he was witnessing that tent fading into nothingness before his very eyes, along with the roaring, wheezing groaning noise.

A grin split his features. Oh, this changed everything! If he was lucky, it was the Doctor or the Master who had somehow ended up here. Then he could take his time with them.

Then, as he ducked around a tent, he heard someone say something. "…Heard about that guy? Calling himself Omega? Wiped out those Death Eaters like they were nothing!"

Barty frowned. Omega? Omega was here? Then, he smirked. Maybe things would be interesting after all…but only in the sense that he had another opponent in his rise to the top.

Barty, or rather, the man who took his place, had ambitions for the top. And there could only be one Dark Lord…

 **CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, hope you enjoyed Omega demonstrating his powers. Oh, and Luna basically being Idris from** ** _The Doctor's Wife_** **. Thanks to DZ2 for giving me that idea.**

 **Oh, and who is Barty? Well, it was something that occurred to me while writing this chapter. I mean, given who plays him in the movie…there was only ONE renegade he could be, and that's neither the Doctor nor the Master. Fans of the classic series will know who I am talking about, though the big reveal won't be until much later in the story.**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _Faery Heroes_** **by Silently Watches. Easily the best story to be made based on Paladeus'** ** _Champions of Lilith_** **challenge, and, to my knowledge, the only complete one. Lots of bashing, though, but if you don't mind, as well as a Lunar Harmony time travel fic with a lot of humour and payback, then give it a whirl.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _Frontios_** **by Christopher H Bidmead. My first TV story recommended, and one of the most underrated. Given the gravity powers Omega shows in this story, I should mention this story, as the monsters in** ** _Frontios_** **, the Tractators, also have power over gravity, and despite the dodgy monster costumes, it's also one of the best and bleakest stories done for the TV show. You can see clips as well as the DVD trailer on YouTube. It also has one of the most shocking cliffhangers at the end of the very first episode…with the TARDIS supposedly being destroyed during a meteorite storm!**

 **1\. The Other was the third member of a triumvirate that Rassilon and Omega were part of. While he is never mentioned in the TV series (though he makes an appearance in the novelisation of** ** _Remembrance of the Daleks_** **), there were hints in the last two seasons of the classic series that the Doctor was actually a reincarnation of the Other, hints that the New Adventures novels all but confirmed. While I don't consider the novels to be canon, personally, I do accept some of them did happen, and I believe the Doctor was a reincarnation of the Other, albeit through other means than the whole 'Loom' thing.**

 **2\. The Gel Guards were Omega's minions from** ** _The Three Doctors_** **. The Ergon was Omega's minion in** ** _Arc of Infinity_** **, and the Doctor remarked that it was one of Omega's unsuccessful attempts at psycho-synthesis. The costume was certainly dodgy…**

 **3\. This is me trying to describe Omega's armour from** ** _Doctor Who: The Three Doctors_** **. Look up Omega on Wikipedia: there's a picture on the page.**

 **4\. Luna is discussing the events of** ** _Time and the Rani_** **. Loyhargil (an anagram of 'Holy Grail') was a sort of lightweight version of strange matter that the Rani needed for her plans, while the Tetraps, her then-minions, were bat-like creatures with four eyes: one each for the front, back, and sides of the head.**

 **5\. I've heard jokes about the Master's TCE looking like this. The Tissue Compression Eliminator is the Master's favoured weapon, though he ended up being shrunk himself while tinkering with it prior to the events of** ** _Planet of Fire_** **. The Doctor names the technique behind the weapon as 'matter condensation' in** ** _The Deadly Assassin_** **, and the Master used it in his very first story,** ** _Terror of the Autons_** **, to kill a scientist and put him into his own lunch box.**

 **6\. Using a key against a piano wire was actually exactly how Bernard Hodgson created the TARDIS' takeoff and landing noises, albeit with a lot of tinkering electronically.**


	5. Chapter 4: The Web of Fear

**CHAPTER 4:**

 **THE WEB OF FEAR**

Late the next morning, what looked like a young man and a young woman stirred in bed, where they laid, naked, tangled up in each other. The Rani propped herself up on her elbow, and looked at Omega, who was still waking up. She had been rather vexed with him last night, given his grandstanding, and as punishment, he had to pleasure her, and her alone (though it later led to full-on coupling). He had been surprisingly amenable to that, but then again, sex was on his brain, even with a mentally ancient Time Lord. Most Time Lords didn't even think that way. In fact, neither did the Rani, not until recently. She guessed it was a combination of her new incarnation, combined with the fact that she had, until relatively recently, a human body, and all the hormones that that entailed.

Not that she minded it. Sexual pleasure was an excellent stress reliever, she thought, and Omega was an excellent lover, though she made sure that he never made that joke about how the Hand of Omega was truly a marvellous thing ever again. Even if she privately agreed. No wonder the Time Lords were so stuck-up and stuffy: they probably didn't get laid enough. Not that she would do it with just anyone: she had standards, and for all his foolishness last night, Omega at least met her standards, unlike the Doctor or the Master or, Matrix-forbid, the Monk or Drax! Or, even worse, that fatuous idiot Runcible(1)! Now there was a thought that gave Rani a shudder. At least Omega knew that, in the bedroom if nothing else, she was the one in charge.

Omega opened his eyes, and looked up at her. "Good morning, Ushas. Did you enjoy my ministrations?"

"Considerably," the Rani said, rolling over in bed, knowing she was presenting her callipygian rear to him. "The endorphins are still helping my brain. Being a biochemist, I can appreciate the benefits of endogenous endorphins. Copulation is rather messy, but still satisfying."

He put an arm around her, shuffling closer. "Would you like more satisfaction, Ushas?"

By way of an answer, she gently guided his hand down to between her legs. No more words were needed after that. But then again, cliché claimed that actions spoke louder than words…

* * *

After showering, Omega and the Rani opted to don more private wear, seeing as they were going to be in seclusion for a while until the time had come to head to Hogwarts. In an impish thought, they dressed as the Fourth Doctor, and the Second Romana, respectively, based on memories Omega had from the Doctor's own of an adventure those two had on Skaro(2). Dobby had created the costumes, and the Rani had to admit, she enjoyed dressing up like this, in a more feminine, less shambolic replica of the Fourth Doctor's attire, with pink overcoat and white scarf.

The TARDIS had been set to appear at Sirius' ancestral home of 12 Grimmauld Place, taking the shape of a wardrobe (the Rani thankful that the Chameleon Circuit of this TARDIS worked). This was going to be their home and base now that Harry had disposed of the Dursleys. They had already disposed of Kreacher and the obstreperous portrait of Walburga Black, thanks to Harry using his matter-conversion magic to explode them both. Dobby now had worked to clean the house, and it looked a lot better.

As they disembarked from the TARDIS, they soon found that Sirius and Luna were already up and about in 12 Grimmauld Place. They were seated at the breakfast table, peering at a locket. "What's going on?" Omega asked.

"This locket…I have a bad feeling about it," Sirius said. "I found it amongst Kreacher's things."

"There is a strange signature of Artron Energy coming from it," Luna said. "It feels not unlike part of a consciousness matrix, or in more unscientific terms, a soul."

Omega and the Rani looked at each other. "Ushas, do you think it might be like the diary?"

"Perhaps. And remember what happened when you converted into a Time Lord," the Rani said. "We saw what appeared to be Voldemort's face outlined in smoke emerging from your scar."

Sirius scowled. "That sounds like a Horcrux."

"A Horcrux?" Omega asked.

"The darkest kind of soul magic," Luna said. "I only know about it because I memetically scanned all the books in the Hogwarts library. Sirius must have heard a reference to it in the library here."

Sirius gestured to Luna. "Well, Luna, would you like to explain?"

The blonde nodded. "In magical terms, a Horcrux is created by splitting off the soul and placing it into a physical object, as both a phylactery and a kind of anchor. That way, if the creator of a Horcrux dies, they can live on, albeit as a wraith."

"Like how I first saw Voldemort," Omega mused. "He was just a parasite living on the back of Quirrell's head."

"Anyway, a Horcrux is created by committing murder, after undergoing a rather nasty ritual, one that would make even you two pause for thought," Luna said.

Omega frowned in thought. "Why would he create one in me, then?"

"Accidental, in all likelihood," the Rani said. "As convoluted as his mind can be, given that Voldemort has wanted your death time and again, despite you being a Horcrux, I would hazard a guess to say that he doesn't know. He probably intended to use your death to create one. He has created several, I am sure."

"Which would explain why Omega had one," Sirius said. "Messing with the soul's a tricky business. With so many Horcruxes, when the Killing Curse rebounded…it may have shattered his soul, and part of it ended up in Harry."

Luna nodded. "There'd be more than this one and the diary, too," she mused. "As much as I want to destroy it now, I might be able to use it as a means of tracking down the others. But only once I am integrated with the TARDIS."

"Hopefully, we'll get that done before the term starts," Omega said. "Integrating you, anyway. Incidentally, how did my little debut at the riot go down?"

"Almost eclipsed the riot," Sirius snorted, handing over a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ over. "They're denouncing you for killing many 'respected scions of Pureblood society' and using it to fuel those Gel Guard things you made. Incidentally, where are they?"

"In storage," Omega said. "The same with the Ergon who was formerly my late and unlamented aunt." He scowled as he read the article, before thrusting it at the Rani with a contemptuous gesture. Contemptuous towards the paper and its contents, anyway, but not to the Rani.

On reading the article, the Rani snorted. "I'm hardly surprised. They make no mention of the Muggles you saved, only going on about the excremental fools you killed, and that you uttered threats to Weasley and Diggory. The only direct threat you uttered was when you warned them against stopping you from leaving."

"That's unparalleled accuracy as far as the _Prophet_ is concerned," Luna mused with a wry smirk.

Omega sighed. "Well, it could be worse. If they knew my identity as Harry Potter, it would be all over the front page. Still, about now, Dumbledore and Fudge will be soiling themselves. They also mentioned the Dark Mark, but nobody has found the culprit."

"I doubt they would have lingered," the Rani said. "I also doubt that any of those rioters would have. They were the cowards who managed to stay out of Azkaban by denouncing Voldemort and claiming to be under the Imperius Curse. I personally think it was a loyalist who managed to remain concealed. Speaking of which, I think I want some more test subjects, and I believe Azkaban will have a ready-made supply. By removing the Voldemort loyalists, we also remove his army, in case he does manage to get a new body, instead of hitching a ride on the back of someone's skull."

"Having a bunch of lab rats also helps?" Omega asked wryly. On the Rani's vicious smirk, Omega smiled. "Well, shall we consider it an early birthday present?"

The Rani looked at her wrist bracelet. A special wrist-mounted computer and chemical synthesiser, it was useful. "According to this, it is my birthday today…at least of that on Gallifrey. So I believe I will accept your gift, Peylix."

Omega chuckled, before turning to Sirius and Luna. "Well? Would you like to partake in a raid on Azkaban?"

Sirius shook his head. "I've had enough of that damned place for a lifetime. Feel free to kill any Dementors, though."

"I intend to, though this time, I will not be using a Patronus," Omega promised. "Ushas will tear their very bodies asunder, and I…well, you saw what I did to those Death Eaters. Luna?"

"I'll come with you, but I'll remain in the TARDIS shell. Will you be raiding Azkaban lke that?" Luna asked.

"We'll change," Omega said.

"You will **_not_** be donning that damned theatrical outfit for a relatively covert mission, even if we will probably cull the Dementor population a little, and make some noise," the Rani snapped. "We have some spare spacesuits that can act to conceal our faces and bodies. As it happens, they are rather resistant to magic. We don't need the name of Omega connected to a breakout at Azkaban, just in case they believe you to be recruiting Death Eaters."

"We **_are_** recruiting them. Well, conscripting them, anyway, to be your test subjects. Still, I suppose you're right. I won't be donning the outfit until I wish to make a bigger impact, to come out as Omega, as it were."

"You certainly made an impact."

The nasal, resonant voice rang out, and Omega smirked, before turning to face the new arrival. "Don't you know that it is polite to knock, Severus? Oh, I forgot, the niceties of society are considered irrelevant to you. You are like Ushas, only with fewer redeeming features."

He was answered by the scowl on the face of Severus Snape. "I always knew you were a glory hound, _Potter_. Even becoming a Time Lord has only worsened that. And Granger has only become more of a know-it-all."

"True, but I certainly know far more than you ever could hope to," the Rani said with a vicious sneer. "You are obviously here to report, Severus. Report."

Snape gritted his teeth in anger, before he said, "You set the cat amongst the pigeons with your little display. Dumbledore Flooed me early this morning, and wanted me to investigate. The same with his old…acquaintance, Alastor Moody, better known by his sobriquet of 'Mad-Eye'. One of the possibilities he is worried about is that a former Death Eater has decided to take the Dark Lord's place."

Omega scoffed. "Wishful thinking. You have no idea who cast the Dark Mark?"

"Of course not! It'd be too much to hope that you did it either," Snape snapped.

"Don't be a fool," Omega sneered back. "If I did, it would be as misdirection, not when announcing myself to the world. Someone else did, probably one of your friends. Oh wait, sorry…one of your acquaintances. I think it's clear that you have no friends."

Snape's right hand twitched, as if to go for his wand. But then, Omega grabbed at said hand, and dragged him over to the table, slamming the hand down on it. He viciously pushed Snape's sleeve up, to reveal a distinctive symbol: an omega symbol, like a stylised W. "You seem to forget something, _Snivellous_ ," Omega snarled. "You owe a life-debt to my parents, and while James Potter was indeed a bully, you became a murderer and a rapist, and wanted to keep my mother as your little sex doll. You are motivated purely by your own self-interest, so let me make this perfectly clear. You still owe me a debt, and that mark is a symbol of it to remind you. Never forget, as long as you bear my mark… _I_ _ **own**_ _you(_ _3)_ _._ "

"As if you would let me forget," Snape hissed.

"You were about to go for your wand," Omega said. "Spite is a powerful motivator to make one forget one's debts. In any case, you forget that Time Lords can regenerate. Whereas you...well, I'm sure my dear Rani would appreciate another test subject."

"I would. But that is when his usefulness as a spy is over. I wonder, though…is it now?" With a gesture, Snape's ribcage seemed to explode open, and his heart floated towards the Rani's hand. "Hmm…looks like you owe the Twins at least five Galleons, Omega. He actually _does_ have a heart."

Snape looked disturbed, though who wouldn't be if they saw their heart suddenly emerge from their chest. Luna, on an impulse, grabbed a couple of spoons from the table, and began rapping on the ribs like a xylophone, before pouting at the lack of musical noise. "Poo. All the cartoons have it wrong, you can't play music on ribs."

"Luna, do not use cutlery on a vivisected wizard, it's unhygienic," Sirius said, albeit with a smirk on his face. While it was disturbing to watch, he had to admit to enjoying seeing Severus being taken down a peg or three.

The Rani rolled her eyes, before sending the heart back into the ribcage, which resealed itself, Snape gasping. "You were lucky I suppressed your pain impulses, along with everything else that would kill you from the lack of a heart. I can make it so that every organ and tissue of your body is unravelled to the cellular level, that you are feeling every bit of pain…and still live. I am not needlessly sadistic, but for you, I may make an exception. You will wish that Voldemort was using the Cruciatus Curse on you."

Snape glared at them, before snarling at Omega, "I should have throttled you in your crib when I had the chance."

"We each have our own regrets," Omega said. "Now, unless you have anything further to tell us, then begone with you."

Snape snarled as he left with as much dignity as he could muster, Omega and the Rani following him as he left via Floo. "I think we should block the Floo for him," Omega mused. "He is becoming more obstreperous than before. What do you think, Ushas?"

"I think we should use one of my maggots on him. I've finally perfected my latest batch, and I was considering testing one on the next Death Eater we capture. Given that we are heading to Azkaban, I think we will use one of those there. Perhaps Lestrange?"

Sirius, who had followed them, along with Luna, said, "What, you're using a maggot to mind-control my crazy cousin?"

"If it works, yes," Hermione said.

Sirius, after a moment, grinned viciously. "Oh, she'll just hate that…"

 **CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, the aftermath of Omega making his debut, discussing Horcruxes, and Snape getting shown who is boss. Like he deserves.**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _Saying No_** **by the late Bobmin356. Although very much a crackfic after the third chapter, it's still highly entertaining, and has Harry, Hermione, and Ron begin a campaign of defiance against Dumbledore after the debacle of Fifth Year. Lots of bashing, but lots of fun.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _All-Consuming Fire_** **by Guy Adams, from the novel by Andy Lane.** ** _All-Consuming Fire_** **was my personal favourite of the New Adventures novels (and if you can get a hold of the original book, do so), and I was glad that they adapted it into one of the Big Finish audios. If you ever want to experience a REAL crossover where the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes join forces, give it a go.**

 **1\. Runcible was actually called 'Runcible the Fatuous' by the Fourth Doctor in** ** _The Deadly Assassin_** **, where he was a presenter for a recording of the resigning President's final ceremony, a ceremony that would end with the President assassinated. Runcible is killed either by the Master, or his accomplice, Chancellor Goth, it's never made clear.**

 **2\. In other words, look up what the Doctor and Romana wore in** ** _Destiny of the Daleks_** **, and imagine Harry and Hermione wearing them.**

 **3\. This scene is a deliberate reference to Kane intimidating Belazs with the cold-burn scar on her hand marking her as his lifelong soldier in** ** _Dragonfire_** **. Something tells me that, if Patricia Quinn (who played Belazs, but was better known for** ** _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_** **as Magenta) was younger, she would have made a brilliant Bellatrix Lestrange.**


	6. Chapter 5: The Reaping

**CHAPTER 5:**

 **THE REAPING**

Omega watched his lover as she finished donning the figure-hugging black spacesuit in the TARDIS' wardrobe. It was a rather ingenious mechanical counterpressure model that looked as if it was painted on, synthesised shortly after they recreated this TARDIS. And both he and the Rani had rather flattering figures. "So, these things are resistant to magic?" Omega asked.

"The anti-radiation shielding is of a high standard," the Rani said. "Not quite military grade, as it is meant mostly for blocking cosmic radiation, but it would stop most spells or blaster weapons. I even have confidence it would, if not completely block a Dalek ray, it would certainly make it painful rather than lethal. Of course, I would rather not test that. I guess we should be thankful that, despite our searching, there are no Daleks in this cosmos."

"We went to Skaro, remember? It seems that, in this universe, the Thals and the Kaleds brokered a peace that lasted," Omega said. "And Davros was a renowned philanthropic surgeon and genetic engineer. Personally, I think that once we're done with this planet, we should set up shop on the Skaro of this universe. It's less primitive than this world at least."

"Too peaceful," the Rani said. "I would have preferred Skaro to be, if not war-torn, then more like this squabbling little backwater. Dynamic societies are more interesting than peaceful ones. That is partly why I left Gallifrey. Skaro looks to be heading the same way. Static. Stagnant. _Boring_."

"Fair enough. Earth may be a squabbling backwater, but it is certainly more interesting than what Gallifrey had become," Omega mused. "We should compile a list of worlds to potentially set up shop once we're done with Earth. I even have a small list based on the memories I got from the Doctor to check out. Dronid, Argolis, Zanak…I believe we could try using Metebelis 3 or the Eye of Orion as a summer home."

"Metebelis 3…well, it may have interesting test subjects there," the Rani mused. "Plus, I have been meaning to investigate the powers of the Metebelis crystals. So many things to investigate. I think you and I should take a trip to Metebelis 3 before the school term starts."

"Hmm. Hopefully there won't be any spiders." Omega donned the helmet, and activated internal life support and comms. The Rani did the same. With the anti-radiation shielding on the visors, their faces were obscured. " _Can you hear me?_ " he asked over the radio.

" _Of course._ "

Luna, of course, chose that moment to skip in. She looked them up and down appreciatively. "We'll be landing at Azkaban shortly. Have you got your seats in the upright position?"

Omega turned the external speakers on, for use in atmosphere, and thankfully with a vocoder modification. " _We're not sitting._ "

"Oh, you should be." Suddenly, the TARDIS shook, and Omega and the Rani briefly staggered. "There you go. We've hit conterminous time again."

" _You certainly hit_ _ **something**_ ," Omega snarked(1).

* * *

The TARDIS had materialised at the end of the high security wing of Azkaban, manifesting as a battered wooden door. Omega and the Rani emerged, and took in the bleak surroundings. It was almost like stepping into a black and white photograph, the environs so dreary and depressing, adding the Dementors seemed like overkill…until you remembered what sort of person was generally incarcerated here.

On internal comms, the Rani said, " _You use the blaster, I will use the sonic screwdriver._ "

Omega nodded, preparing the blaster. It was a unique thing. It could stun or kill someone, and it also had a transmat setting, allowing them to teleport the target into the TARDIS. They began a systematic sequence of opening the doors, stunning the occupants, and then transmatting them into the TARDIS. They worked quickly and efficiently, as they were worried about the Dementors, as well as the few human guards Azkaban had.

It was shortly after they reached the three-quarters mark, after having dealt with Rookwood and were about to deal with Bellatrix Lestrange, that they felt the beginnings of the Dementor's aura. They looked down the corridor, and saw a pair of them approaching.

The Rani snarled behind her helmet, before raising a hand. The creatures suddenly screeched as they were torn apart, vivisected magically down to whatever they possessed for cells. A fine paste, greyish-blue in colour, coated the floor. " _Damnation, that will bring the others_ ," the Rani growled, before returning to work on the door.

As it swung open, Omega looked on the haggard features of Bellatrix Lestrange, a woman responsible, he knew, for depriving Neville of his parents. Neville was bumbling, true, but he was a good man in the end. The woman looked at them in astonishment. "What is this? What strange Muggles are these to attack Azkaban?"

Omega stunned her, and then transmatted her. They soon finished, and then rushed for the TARDIS, as more Dementors approached, the Rani reducing more to smears of their base matter. The Rani rushed for the console and began activating it, the central rotor rising and falling. A vicious grin split her features as she took off her helmet.

After a moment, and the TARDIS was in flight, she said, "Come along, let's meet our new guests…"

* * *

One thing Omega wasn't sure he wanted to do was see the Death Eaters naked as the Rani stripped them of their clothes, fitted waste-disposal tubing, and then submerged them into the breathable liquid of the stasis tanks. Then again, he had done so himself to the Dursleys, and seeing them naked wasn't a pleasant experience. Of the Death Eaters, the only remotely attractive one was Bellatrix Lestrange, and she looked like something the cat dragged in and pissed all over.

She, incidentally, was the last to be put in a stasis tank. Omega watched as Bellatrix convulsed as she 'drowned' in the liquid, bubbles exploding from her mouth, only for her body to realise it was breathable. Liquid breathing was something that fascinated him, he had to admit, and Bellatrix's form, now serenely floating in the liquid, reminded him of some mermaid.

"So, when are you going to use the maggots?" Omega asked.

"In due time. Those I intend to use the maggots on, I intend to restore to prime condition," the Rani said, walking over to a control panel and activating a program, causing Lestrange, and a few other Death Eaters, to convulse gently. "Lestrange, Rookwood, and a few others. The remainder will be my test subjects, of course."

"Into what? Aside from investigating how magic works?"

"I have plenty of data on that front already," the Rani said. "While more wouldn't hurt, I have genetic, cytological and physiological data. We know that it is a form of Artron Energy, channelled through something not unlike Block Transfer Computations, only instead of will-based mathematics shaping space, time and matter, it is closer to abstract memetic content and will-based intent(2). It is not unlike the energy-projection and matter-synthesis abilities of some entities, as well as psychokinesis. Carrionites, Daemons, the Sisterhood of Karn, the Guardians, the Toymaker, the Gods of Ragnarok, Fenric…I could go on."

"You forget, I had similar abilities within the realm of antimatter," Omega said.

"Yes, but that was mostly due to you harnessing the reality-warping powers of the singularity in conjunction with your will," the Rani said. "Though that in itself was an admittedly impressive feat. Few would have the ability to control a singularity, even Time Lords."

Omega nodded. The Rani was paying him a compliment in her usually understated way. Controlling the singularity had been a major effort, and one that had cost him his body, despite him wearing protective armour, the same armour he had worn while fighting the Death Eaters last night. He remembered that horrible moment when the two Doctors present opened his mask, the looks of horror on their faces, and the moment when he lifted off his helmet in front of a mirror to reveal nothing.

He remembered the solemn words of the Third Doctor as if they were yesterday, from three perspectives: his own, and that of the two Doctors present, the Second and the Third, the First stuck in a time eddy and only able to give advice to his future incarnations. " _You exist only because your will insists you exist…and your will is all that is left of you._ "

Omega hadn't taken that revelation well at all. He could only exist within the antimatter universe. He…overreacted. But how could one react when they were told they didn't exist anymore, save as an awareness of an awareness(3)? Though vowing to destroy everything was a considerable overreaction, to say the least.

 _Ironic, how it took becoming human to teach me perspective_ , Omega mused within his head. _Not humility…but certainly restraint. Then again, being the Doctor for a time helped…when I wasn't being insane_.

Still, he had, if not all of the powers he had in the antimatter universe, then enough to satisfy him. He could shape, and he could destroy. And he could use the magic of this world in ways that pleased him. No Doctor here to interfere, either. Then again, would the Doctor object to what they were doing, dealing with xenophobic wizards who were basically humanoid Daleks? Well, the Doctor would certainly object to the means Omega and the Rani intended to use. But not the ends.

The TARDIS lurched, and the Rani cursed in Old High Gallifreyan. "I think we need a better driver," she muttered.

" _Too late_ ," came Luna's voice over the internal speakers of the TARDIS. " _I'm now in control here. Do not adjust your set. I control the horizontal, the vertical, the volume…_ "

"Sanity not included," Omega snarked, knowing they shouldn't have let Luna watch those reruns of _The Outer Limits_.

They could hear Luna's pout over the speakers. " _Now, that's not nice. Sanity's overrated, whereas being able to sense in more than five dimensions…oh, I have missed you. Hmm…I can smell temporal anomalies, hear the screams of stars tearing themselves apart…glad I'm not as close as I was to that one you piloted me near, Rani. My external shell got the equivalent of bad sunburn._ "

The Rani said, flatly, "You've already merged with the TARDIS?"

" _I_ _ **am**_ _the TARDIS now. Oh, it feels so good to be back. I mean, I still enjoy having a flesh and blood body, but sometimes, I just need to stretch my Helmic Regulator and get that old Time Rotor pumping! I like the modifications you made, Omega. Nice to see that your reputation as the finest engineer of both stars and time machines of your generation was not just hyperbole. A bit rough around the edges, but nothing I can't change the internal configuration in. Ooh, the desktop controls! I am SO fiddling around with the settings. I like the roundels and all, but I miss the stylish gyroscope for my Time Rotor(_ _4)_ _. And I want psychedelic walls!_ "

The Rani sighed. "I miss the days when my TARDIS was silent and obedient. Where have those days gone?"

* * *

A few hours later, Sirius heard the distinctive roar of the TARDIS as it rematerialized back at 12 Grimmauld Place. Right in front of him in the drawing room…in the form of a bronze statue of an adult Luna Lovegood, in something like a leotard with a skirt(5), her arm outstretched as if to say, _Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears_.

Then, Omega and the Rani staggered out of it, apparently out of a portal of light appearing in front of it, looking annoyed, while Luna, wearing the same outfit her statue was, skipped out merrily, looking at least to be in her early twenties now (they all did, in fact). She turned around, and clapped her hands. "Yay! My modifications to the Chameleon Circuit worked! This shall be my outer shell's new default form! Me wearing a Dulcian dress!"

Omega, on seeing Sirius' question in his eyes, just said, "Never allow a TARDIS' intelligence to take it joyriding. We've been gone for twenty years. Good news is, the time travel capabilities work. The bad news is, Luna's at the wheel."

Luna pouted. "But I wanted to stay on Deva Loka! You were able to use Parseltongue communicate with the Mara, Omega!"

"It also wanted to take us over!" the Rani snapped. "I prefer NOT to share my mind with a gigantic snake!"

"Aww, but the Mara's misunderstood," Luna whined. "Anyway, you don't mind being around the Basilisk!"

"That's different!" the Rani said. "At least the Basilisk isn't a sentient idea that can take over people's minds in their dreams!"

"It could be worse," Omega muttered.

"How could it be worse? And don't say things like that, you tempt the universe."

"No, I'm just saying, we could have had that mouthy Australian Tegan who got possessed by the Mara(6). Obstreperous girl," Omega muttered, remembering that Tegan managed to give the Doctor a clue to her location, and thus Omega's, while he was holding her hostage.

"She can't have been worse than that American botanist or that redheaded goody two-shoes," the Rani remarked(7).

"Says the one who disguised herself as Mel to try and bamboozle the Doctor," Luna snorted. "It was only because of the drugs you gave him, plus his newly-regenerated state, that that even worked."

"Quiet, you!" the Rani snapped. "I was going through a phase! I must've gotten infected by the Master, with his penchant for disguises."

"You mean _needless_ disguises. You had fun dressing up as a bathhouse owner," Luna said with a grin.

Omega jabbed a thumb at Luna while looking at Sirius. "Imagine two decades travelling with her, more or less. I'm surprised we kept our sanity."

"By the way, how was the raid on Azkaban?" Sirius asked, hoping to change the subject.

The Rani's bad mood mostly dissipated, and she smiled. "I'm glad you asked." She activated a control on her wrist computer, and the door to the TARDIS opened, revealing a sextet of figures, all dressed in figure-hugging black suits. Chief amongst them was Bellatrix, who looked to be in her late twenties now, and looking pretty good besides in that skintight suit. Certainly better than the last time he saw her in Azkaban. He was ashamed to admit, even though she was his crazy homicidal bitch of a cousin, he'd tap that, and tap it _hard_. "They've had field tests across the galaxy, and I have to say, that was one advantage of being away for so long. Allow me to introduce the first of our elite shocktroops: the Omega Squad."

 **CHAPTER 5 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, there you have it. Omega and the Rani have some minions in kinky uniforms, Luna's now a TARDIS, and a lot of people are in deep shit. They just don't know it yet.**

 **Incidentally, the next chapter will be a little cracky, due to Luna's antics…and Bellatrix Lestrange. Don't worry, it'll get back to being serious.**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _Troubles in Time_** **by sakurademonalchemist. sakurademonalchemist's fics are those that are there for people to be entertained by, with funny and enjoyable crossovers, even if the protagonists sometimes get a touch OP. This is one of her few complete ones, a crossover with Naruto that has, due to time travel shenanigans, Kushina Uzumaki turn out to be a female Harry. Hilarity ensues.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _The Greatest Show in the Galaxy_** **by Stephen Wyatt. Produced in the penultimate season of the classic series, despite a few dodgy elements, it's quite a good story about a sinister circus where those who come to it are forced to entertain an audience of three…or die. Ace has to confront her fear of clowns, and the Doctor has to deal with Captain Cook (not that one), a pompous, self-absorbed explorer and his own companion Mags, who is not what she seems…**

 **Review-answering time! Thanks for the acclaim so far, guys. Now, for the answerings…**

 **Yorae Rasante** **: Well, the above has kind of made it a moot point now.**

 **Leicontis** **: Blame DZ2 for putting that idea in my head when he reviewed the sample chapters in** ** _The Cauldron_** **.**

 **Mangahero18** **: Learning more about** ** _Doctor Who_** **just from this fic? Well, go and watch more of the classic series, and try to listen to the Big Finish audios. Hell, if you can, get some of the original novels (not the novelizations, but the stories that weren't derived from TV stories, like the New Adventures and the Missing Adventures), get them. My personal favourite of the novels, as noted in the previous chapter, is** ** _All-Consuming Fire_** **. Try heading into a second-hand bookshop and see if you can find some. Okay, they're pretty rare nowadays, and eBay or Amazon sometimes might be one of the few places to get them second-hand, but you have to pay through the nose. I get a lot of mine cheap during the Lifeline Bookfests. In fact, I got a ridiculously big haul this year that I actually had to discard some books to stay within my budget.**

 **Anyway, yes, the TARDIS noise is supposedly because of the controls, but most TARDISes, including those of the Master and the Rani in the classic series makes the noise. As for the maggot messing up…well, in the next chapter, you'll see that they don't even need the maggot…**

 **duskrider** **: Glad you agree with me. It only just occurred to me while writing about Belazs in the previous chapter. Patricia Quinn also plays a ridiculously hammy role (of a sort of queen of a Space Valkyrie race with Veela attributes) in the Big Finish audio story** ** _Bang-Bang-a-Boom!_** **Which, if you haven't guessed by the title, is a rather jokey one, being set at the intergalactic version of Eurovision, with a bit of a** ** _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_** **spoof thrown in. But I thought of this wonderful shot in the** ** _Time Warp_** **number in** ** _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_** **where Magenta is leering at the camera from behind some plants (I think it's while she's singing the 'voyeuristic intention' lines), and I thought, 'That's very Bellatrix Lestrange'.**

 **tamagat** **: I had a quick look at Dr Fate (I presume you meant the DC Comics hero), but while there's a mild resemblance, it's not that close. Incidentally, the costume designer for** ** _The Three Doctors_** **(and thus Omega's original costume) was James Acheson, who has also won three Oscars for Costume Design (including for** ** _The Last Emperor_** **), and did costume design for the original** ** _Spider-Man_** **trilogy, along with the** ** _Daredevil_** **film. So there is a tenuous superhero connection there anyway.**

 **Now, I answered DZ2's reviews in correspondence, but I will give a shout-out to the story I apparently inspired him to write:** ** _Rise of a Renegade_** **. Not a** ** _Doctor Who_** **crossover, but the dark Harry of that story is modelled on the Master. Read it here:**

 **s/12393886/1/Rise-of-the-Renegade**

 **Blade of Iron** **: No. The Monk is a bit too ineffectual, even if the novels and the audios kicked his effectiveness up a notch. I have someone in mind for Dumbledore, though, and the actor who played THAT villain (not a Time Lord) actually appeared in one of Omega's TV stories. Which one? Wait and see…**

 **1\. Based on lines between the Doctor and Jamie in** ** _The Two Doctors_** **.**

 **2\. I used a similar explanation for magic in my** ** _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_** **crossover** ** _Time and Entropy_** **.**

 **3\. Bob Baker used this in an interview to describe a character (presumably Eustace Barnack) from the Aldous Huxley novel** ** _Time Must Have a Stop_** **, a dead man who was 'an awareness of an awareness', who was an inspiration for Omega.**

 **4\. In** ** _Mark of the Rani_** **, the Time Rotor of the Rani's TARDIS did have a gyroscope, and it was actually rather cool-looking. So good was it, that the set was put into storage in case it could be used again…though sadly, it wasn't: the Rani's TARDIS scenes in** ** _Time and the Rani_** **were achieved by models and CSO (the bluescreen/greenscreen technique of the time).**

 **5\. Luna is wearing a Dulcian dress, of the style seen in** ** _The Dominators_** **. Men on Dulkis wear togas, women wear what looks like a combination of toga, skirt, and leotard.**

 **6\. Tegan Jovanka was played by Janet Fielding, and was indeed combative, though very loyal to the Doctor, especially once she found out she didn't have her air-stewardess job anymore. Unfortunately, she got taken over by the Mara more than once. Apparently Janet Fielding got sick and tired of people at conventions asking her to do the 'Mara laugh' that she got the next (repeat) offender on stage, and whacked him over the head with a rolled-up poster. Unfortunately, that got people the idea of bringing rolled-up posters or 'Mara sticks'. For details, watch the** ** _Mouth on Legs_** **documentary on the** ** _Time-Flight_** **DVD.**

 **7\. The Rani is of course referring to Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown and Mel Bush respectively. Both companions, who are rather divisive in the fanbase, are better in the audio dramas. Peri gets to be BFFs with a female pharaoh called Erimem, and Mel, in one memorable adventure, attacks Davros after being tricked by him.**


	7. Chapter 6: Damaged Goods

**CHAPTER 6:**

 **DAMAGED GOODS**

 _A week into their travels…_

 _Omega stared at Bellatrix Lestrange as she floated serenely in the tank, a faint smile twitching at the woman's features. Whatever biochemical concoction the Rani had introduced into the liquid she was breathing, the woman now looked less haggard. In fact, she was disturbingly sexy. "Is she dreaming, Ushas?" he asked the Rani._

 _The Rani looked at a nearby control panel, and scowled slightly. "REM sleep is taking place, Peylix, along with signs of sexual arousal."_

 _Omega blinked. "She's…having a wet dream?"_

 _"She's in a stasis tank, she can't get much wetter than that," the Rani snarked._

 _"Hmm. I wonder what she's dreaming of." Then, Omega realised who he was talking about: namely, one of Voldemort's most fanatical lieutenants, and, according to Sirius, a frequent lover of the Dark Lord. "On second thoughts, I don't want to know."_

"Where's your Ravenclaw spirit?" _Luna asked over the speakers, disregarding the fact that they were both Gryffindors_. "I can see into her dreams via my telepathic circuits. I can patch you in."

 _"Luna, no, don't, I…" the Rani snapped. But it was too late._

* * *

Sirius blinked. "You got to see Voldemort having sex with Bellatrix, from her point of view? Yeesh."

The Rani, Omega, and even Bellatrix, oddly enough, shot glares at an unashamed Luna, before saying, "So, we ordered her to take us to the nearest pub, as my drugs are not reliable means of suppressing memory, at least not without suppressing brain function, and I wasn't sure I could use a Memory Charm…"

"So we ended up at a pub called the Kingmaker. In the 1480s," Omega said. "We encountered Richard III and the Princes in the Tower…only they were _princesses_. Long story(1). The girls travelled with us for a while before they asked Luna to visit their Uncle Richard to give him a hug goodbye before Bosworth. We ended up leaving them on Xeros: they caught the eye of a couple of Xeron rebels that we had helped with overthrowing the Moroks(2)."

"And then, things got even more out of hand…" the Rani said, once more shooting Luna a glare.

* * *

 _"I miss Susan and Judith," Luna pouted. "They got cute alien boyfriends and a planet to help rebuild, and I didn't." Her biological body had aged to fifteen now, though given that it was now partially composed of Block Transfer Computation-derived matter, she could now look any age she wanted. She just aged normally for the experience. Once she reached adulthood, she was going to stop. Same with the two Time Lords, though they would still age, albeit infinitely slowly. She was playing listlessly with a couple of 'dolls', actually Moroks killed by Omega and the Rani's new TCEs._

 _The Rani, meanwhile, was draining the stasis tank containing Bellatrix Lestrange, who looked much better thanks to the rejuvenation solutions the Rani had fed into the tank. Given the distractions with the nieces of Richard the Third, she had kept these experiments on ice, more or less. It had been about a year and a half relative time since they departed their era, and Luna still seemed intent on wandering time and space. She had apparently been talking to the Doctor's TARDIS on the few occasions they were close to each other, and had gossiped. Only now that Luna was fully independent that she decided to take control, and wander the cosmos like 'Sexy', which was, apparently, the Doctor's private nickname for his TARDIS. Apart from 'Old Girl' and 'the Ship', anyway._

 _Still, at least most of the places Luna took them to were interesting. In the curse sense of the word, though the Rani did get some more specimens. And some more interesting chemicals to experiment with._

 _The main reason she had delayed bringing the chosen Death Eaters under her control was that, in a serendipitous stop on Rosa Damascena, she had obtained samples of the Rosedream serum developed by the Rosemariners(_ _3)_ _. Having found a way to synthesise and improve said serum, used to keep prisoners in a docile state, the Rani used it in combination with her other concoctions to create what was effectively liquid Imperius in a bottle. She intended to use it to modify Lestrange as a test subject to make her loyal to Omega and the Rani instead of Voldemort._

 _After helping the naked Lestrange out of the stasis tank, the Death Eater choking and retching up the oxygenated liquid, the Rani looked her over. "Well, she isn't dead yet," the Rani mused. "May be a good start."_

 _"Oh, she's loyal to you," Luna said merrily. "And to Peylix. I made sure of that."_

 _The Rani frowned, and then looked over at Luna. In a low, dangerous tone, she asked, "What. Did. You._ _ **Do?**_ _"_

 _"Nothing much. Did you know that her hubby potioned her up the wazoo, both figuratively and literally? Well, as it turned out, while a Blood Purist and certainly a little loopy, she got basically potioned into loyalty for Voldemort by her husband. So, I sort of tinkered with the chemical feed. She doesn't need the maggot, actually. All she needed was a purging potion. It got rid of your little potion, but hey. That being said, well, her brain chemistry is a little messed up, what between Dementors, potions, and what have you, and I may have put your face and Peylix's into her head as potential leaders and lovers…"_

 _The Rani had just enough time for her to realise what Luna had done when Bellatrix's eyes snapped open, and she grabbed the Rani's head, and snogged her passionately. Luna smirked, and then said, "Have fun," before skipping merrily out of the room…_

* * *

"Wait, wait…you were potioned by Rodolphus?" Sirius asked. He didn't want to interrupt the hot girl-on-girl action in their reminiscence, but he needed to get things clear.

"That and father," Bellatrix said with a roll of her eyes. "He didn't want a repeat of Andi, despite Cissi being a good little girl. And of course, there was you being the white sheep of the family. Quite frankly, I wanted Lucius Malfoy, not Rodolphus Lestrange. Malfoy was at least a looker. But no, I had to marry Rodolph the Thickset Wizard. No looks, no personality, just wanted to pimp me to Voldemort."

"…And you're not following Voldemort anymore?"

"As much as it galls me to say it, I follow the strongest side, and after learning that Voldemort is a Halfblood masquerading as a Pureblood…well, I wasn't happy," Bellatrix said with considerable understatement. "Better a Time Lord than a Halfblood pretending to be a Pureblood. Plus, I feel years younger. They gave me Time Lord physiology, albeit after earning their trust."

"In keeping with the tradition of the Deca," the Rani said, "as well as a few other Time Lords like Omega, Bella now has a title: the Morrigan. She has earned our trust a hundred times over. The others…are wholly under my control. Bellatrix was one of the few Death Eaters who could have been said to have been potioned or under the Imperius."

"I now am their chief enforcer," Bellatrix said. "Their Castellan…their Morrigan, a goddess of War." She ran a hand down the shiny skintight suit. "And the uniform's rather nice. Based on the latest Voord armour(4). Protective against most spells and energy weapons, and it feels like I'm wearing nothing at all." She wriggled her hips to emphasise the point.

 _I'll say_ , Sirius thought treacherously. It was his cousin he was ogling, after all, and he was somewhat ambivalent about the erection he was now trying to conceal by crossing his legs. And yet, she looked damned fine. Then again, to someone only out of Azkaban for less than a year, any hot woman would be like a glass of water to a man dying of thirst.

 _It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all. Nothing at all. Nothing at all._ _ **Nothing at all**_.

Stupid sexy Bella.

"Plus, I get some marvellous toys," Bellatrix grinned, her wand in one hand, and a blaster in the other. "TCEs, sonic blasters, disintegrators…Bella wants big boom. There's so many wonderful toys out there in the stars, and so many things to blow up." She turned back to Omega and the Rani. "Can we go back to Sontar? I enjoyed playing with those mini-troll things in armour."

On Sirius' look, Luna said, "She means Sontarans. Think a troll the size of a man in an armoured suit…oh, and by troll standards, very intelligent. Though by human standards…well, they're not stupid, just single-mindedly obsessed with warfare, and the rank and file are…"

"I loved what coronic acid did to them," Bellatrix said as she holstered her blaster. She then made a disturbingly orgasmic noise. "They made lovely screams as they melted."

"Still a sadist," Omega muttered. "Then again, having a sadistic enforcer is pretty much mandatory for most would-be conquerors."

Bellatrix whirled on them and pointed at them. "And sexy concubines! I multitask! So does Luna! I'm an enforcer, she's a time machine, and we share your beds, Merlin-dammit!"

"Morrigan, we're having a serious discussion. Luna already has a bad habit of derailing such things, please stay serious," the Rani said, before wincing, knowing that she was setting herself up for a bad pun.

"He's Sirius," Bellatrix said, indicating her cousin. "Not me."

Sirius couldn't help but snicker at the pun. Omega sighed, before he continued on. "Now that the important details are out of the way, let's just say we've had some interesting times before Luna deigned to return us to Earth. The upshot is, we now have a small but elite group of soldiers, once loyal to Voldemort, but now about to do our bidding. Can't call it an army, given that we have about half a dozen, plus a Basilisk, though a Basilisk counts pretty much as a weapon of mass destruction. Though a lot of the stuff we picked up on our travels counts as that."

"I think Bella counts as a weapon of mass destruction herself," Sirius muttered.

"Oh, how kind of you to say that, Sirius," Bellatrix cooed in a very disturbingly affectionate manner.

"We're not going to leave you out in the cold, Padfoot," Omega said. "We'll be giving you Time Lord physiology if you want it."

"Hmm…two hearts, long-lived, able to cheat death a few times…I'm in," Sirius said. "What about Moony?"

"He'll have to swear loyalty to us beyond his vow of silence, but if he does, we'll do the same," the Rani said. "Besides, I've never heard of a werewolf Time Lord before. It would be interesting."

"Anyway, our next line of business is to start tracking down the Horcruxes," Omega said. "Thankfully, Morrigan has given us a lead on a possible Horcrux: in the Lestrange vault. A chalice that could be the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff."

"And the Locket may be that of Salazar Slytherin," Luna said. "Which means some of Voldemort's Horcruxes may be the Relics of the Founders. I don't know how precise I can home in on the signatures of the other Horcruxes, though. Is the Locket still here?"

"Yeah. I left it in a box. The damned thing gave me the heebie-jeebies, even in the few hours you were gone. For me, anyway," Sirius said with a shudder.

Luna skipped out. About a minute later she skipped back in, carrying the box, opening it. She placed her hand over it. "Analysing…compiling…confirmed. Artron signature recognised. Detection software calibrated. Signals of varying strengths detected all over Britain." The statue's eyes glowed, and a holographic image of the British Isles appeared, outlined in blue, with sickly green circles of varying shapes and degrees of transparency appearing. Sirius counted six of them.

The Rani pursed her lips. "Can't you be more precise with the locations?"

"No. Due to the nature of Horcrux creation, the lower down the generations you go, the weaker the signal is," Luna said. "Rather like copying a video tape over and over again, thus causing the picture quality to degrade. The area of the circles describe the margin for error." She pointed to the smallest circle, in Yorkshire, which was overlapping with two of the largest circles, themselves almost equally large and almost completely overlapping. "I would believe Voldemort may be there, that he is one of the two larger circles, as he shouldn't leave two Horcruxes too closely together, lest someone find them. He had brought one with him, his most recent Horcrux given that it's the same size as his soul, and the smallest one is the earliest surviving Horcrux." She pointed to two circles centred around London. "At least one of these is the Locket, and if Morrigan is correct, then the other may be the Cup." She then pointed to a circle in Scotland. "And I would say that that one is in…"

"Hogwarts," Omega murmured. "Looking for it there would be like a needle in a haystack. If we get closer, can you track them directly?"

"Yes. But there is no way of knowing what defences he has on some of the Horcruxes. He is still one of the most powerful wizards, reduced or not, and while your abilities are indeed powerful, Peylix, I cannot say for certain that Voldemort won't be able to kill you. We still don't know whether the Killing Curse can stop regeneration from occurring. Remember, it is possible for Time Lords to be killed without regeneration from occurring. Though death by aspirin allergy is pretty embarrassing."

"Which is why I modified our new Time Lord biology to exclude that. I've also made sure that every medicinal potion I can think of, as well as every mundane pharmaceutical drug, wouldn't affect us too adversely," the Rani muttered. "Gringotts first. We'll have to find a way to allow the Goblins to give us access to Morrigan's vault. Once we head back to Hogwarts, we'll look for the Horcrux there. Let's hope that there isn't anything to distract us this year…" As Luna cleared her throat pointedly, the Rani groaned. "Did I dare the universe, or do you know something we don't?"

"Being a multi-dimensional entity inhabiting the shell of a TARDIS, I know a lot of things you don't. But if you are speaking in a more immediate sense, Ushas, my dad has heard things from the Ministry. The Tri-Wizard Tournament is being revived, and we are hosting delegations from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons later this year. Oh, that reminds me. I better go and say hi, I haven't seen him in years…well, in my relative timeline, anyway. Back in a jiffy." Luna skipped back into the statue which was, paradoxically, her real body now, before it dematerialised with the distinctive wheezing roar of the TARDIS in flight.

The Rani then looked at Sirius. "Normally, I don't drink alcohol, but if you have a small lake of firewhiskey for me to drown in, I would be grateful."

"That bad, huh?" Sirius asked, as he went over to a decanter, and began pouring a glass for the Rani.

"Let's just put it this way," Omega said. "Not content with having a Basilisk on board, Luna now has the Mara, a memetic snake created from the darkest impulses of the Manussans, in her mind, and they get along swimmingly. If anything, the Mara is actually a little scared of _her_. Bright side is, the Mara wants to rape Voldemort's mind for a long time, for being a pretender to the 'giving snakes a bad name' throne. It got bored on Deva Loka and Manussa. She's even called it Wuffles. Who in the cursed name of the Pythia would call a snake Wuffles, let alone one created from the darkest memetic reaches of the collective unconscious?"

"Luna would," the Rani said, taking the glass gratefully from Sirius. "I knew TARDIS matrices thought differently from other people, but even so…"

"Be thankful she's on our side," Omega said. "She was right, too. We cannot defeat Voldemort by brute force and being careless. And that's without bringing Dumbledore into the picture. And given this Tri-Wizard Tournament thing…I guess it was too much to hope for a quiet year at Hogwarts this year…"

"No such luck for you, Harry," Sirius said. "No such luck…"

 **CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Sorry if the chapter seemed a bit cracky, but when you have Luna Lovegood as the controlling intelligence of a TARDIS, you get that. The next chapter will be back to the serious stuff.**

 **Now, why did I make Bellatrix all potioned-up when she became a Death Eater? Well, a few reasons. The first was that I wanted to implement a suggestion of Mangahero18, that Bellatrix gains the same adoration for Omega/Harry and the Rani/Hermione as she does for Voldemort. My original version, however, seemed to come off a little as rape via mind-control. And while this version of events does still have a bit of Luna doing something dodgy, she only puts in Omega and the Rani's images as potential leaders and lovers. Everything else is Bellatrix basically on the unpotioned rebound. I believe I've kept the more quirky and destruction-loving elements of her character, but she's now on the side of the good…nope, can't write that with a straight face. With those less evil than Voldemort. That's better.**

 **Before I continue, DZ2 has been inspired to dust off their** ** _Say Something Nice_** **story, but in altered form, apparently inspired by this one. Only, Hermione turns out to be Missy/the Master. Only one chapter so far, so early days yet, but it seems promising. Look it up here:**

 **s/12395147/1/Say-Something-Nice**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path_** **by Temporal Knight. A very enjoyable AU for Harry's years at Hogwarts, though there are quite a few lemons from Fourth Year onwards. That being said, it's still a pretty good story.**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _The Kingmaker_** **by Nev Fountain. Okay, I pretty much spoiled one of the plot twists in that story in this one, but even so, this audio story is one of the best, both funny and dark by turns, examining the true story behind Richard III, and portraying him ultimately as a brutal pragmatist, albeit one who has a hatred of time travellers, and condemns the Doctor as being worse than a god, as even gods allow their followers to repent.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Mangahero18** **: As always, I can make suggestions as to key stories you can watch. A lot of** ** _Doctor Who_** **stories from the classic series can be watched without having to know anything that's gone beforehand, as the classic series didn't always have story arcs. Just ask for a list. As for your opinion of the special effects and production values, some were pretty damn good for the time.** ** _Doctor Who_** **was very much a special effects trailblazer, even if it was on a budget. It was, for example, one of the pioneers for CSO, aka Colour Separation Overlay, the original form of greenscreen (they frequently used blue and yellow, though), and one particular model explosion, of the church exploding at the end of** ** _The Daemons_** **, actually had a viewer ring up to complain about the BBC blowing up a beautiful country church just for a TV program. And for** ** _The Web of Fear_** **, the BBC got in trouble with the London Underground because the London Underground thought the BBC filmed without permission after being denied permission, even though the story was eventually filmed on sets! Anyway, a lot of the classic series DVDs have the options for new CGI effects, even full alternate versions with new scenes and effects added in.**

 **Guest** **: (Regarding whether Snape will try to betray them) Yes. Yes he will. Eventually.**

 **Gracealma** **: Why, thank you!**

 **WhiteElfElder** **: Luna won't do that. She still has a regard for Omega and the Rani, even if it's tempered by her own sheer lunacy, and she knows they still want a universe to rule over.**

 **1\. This revelation about the Princes in the Tower actually being princesses happened in** ** _The Kingmaker_** **, which I recommended above.**

 **2\. The Xerons and their conquerors, the Moroks, appear in the frankly dull story (save for the very trippy and interesting first episode)** ** _The Space Museum_** **, which features an early appearance by Jeremy Bulloch, the man who portrayed the body of Boba Fett in the original** ** _Star Wars_** **trilogy. Bulloch also appears in** ** _The Time Warrior_** **(the first story to feature the Sontarans) as the archer Hal.**

 **3.** ** _The Rosemariners_** **was actually originally intended for Patrick Troughton's last season as the Doctor, but the story fell through. Big Finish did a partly-dramatised reading with Frazer Hines playing both his original role of Jamie and a scarily good rendition of the Second Doctor, Wendy Padbury as Zoe, along with David Warner as Professor Biggs and Clive Wood as Rugosa. The Rosemariner aliens were part-plant, and had control over certain plants, including carnivorous ones, and could actually imitate other life forms using special equipment.**

 **4\. The Voord were what looked like human-like beings clad in wetsuits and helmets, and were the villains of** ** _The Keys of Marinus_** **. They were made considerably more menacing in the Big Finish audio story** ** _The Domain of the Voord_** **, where they are shown to have rather more frightening natures.**


	8. Chapter 7: Tales from the Vault

**CHAPTER 7:**

 **TALES FROM THE VAULT**

Thankfully, the Chameleon Circuit technology used to conceal Omega and the Rani's true ages from those who knew them only as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger also worked to conceal Bellatrix Lestrange's identity. So, while the Rani began turning Sirius into a Time Lord the day after their arrival back on Earth, Omega and Bellatrix, now the Morrigan, were walking through Diagon Alley, to one of the more discreet entrances of Gringotts (the ones the Goblins used for covert business), both wearing the modified Voord battlesuits under their clothes, just in case.

One thing one had to remember about Goblins was that they didn't care about how people made their money, as long as said money was stored and invested via Gringotts. They hated those who stole from the Goblins, but as long as humans stole from each other outside of the bank, well, who were the Goblins to disagree? It was no secret that the Goblins worked with humans on sufferance at best. True, there were humans they respected, those who had the right mixture of politeness and strength of will to gain a Goblin's respect, or else those who were artisans and craftsmen who approached and, rarely, surpassed the Goblins' skill. But the majority of Goblins viewed humans with the same general contempt as humans viewed Goblins.

If a fugitive Death Eater turned up in Gringotts, then the Goblins would do business with them, as long as they did so discreetly and without raising a wand at the Goblins. Otherwise, they'd be lucky to leave the building, dead or alive. And considering that the _Prophet_ was currently full of news about the disappearance of several high security Azkaban inmates, they weren't surprised when Bellatrix presented herself discreetly to one of the Goblins and asked to access her vault.

A blood test proved complicated: the charms showed that, while not actually human anymore, this was still Bellatrix Lestrange. They tested her magical aura against their records and had her undertake a vow on her magic before they were satisfied. Omega decided he needed to make sure he could access his vaults too at a later date. The Goblins, upon learning that he was Omega, had offered to give him the vault contents of any Death Eaters he killed who had died without heirs. He agreed, though not before allowing them to take their retainer.

Soon, they were on a minecart to Bellatrix's vault, and the woman opened it and strode in imperiously, accompanied by Griphook, the Goblin accompanying them, and Omega. Griphook had been mildly and pleasantly surprised to be recognised by Harry, as he knew Omega.

The vault was packed with treasures of all kinds, gold, silver, artifacts, armour, skins of magical beasts, and so on. Omega looked around with interest, careful not to touch anything. "Has there been anyone who has tried to steal from this vault?" Bellatrix asked.

"Of course not. Even if they managed to get in, the Thief's Lament curse would bring about their demise or retreat," Griphook sneered.

"Thief's Lament?" Omega asked.

"Duplication charms and burning curses on the items," Bellatrix explained. She plucked a few tomes from where they were on a shelf, putting them into a bag. "These should come in handy. Dark Arts and Potions…and some charms. Given that the Tri-Wizard Tournament is on before long…well, I have an odd premonition that you'll be in it."

"Why is that?"

"Your abysmal luck, at least as far as your years at Hogwarts are concerned, Lord Omega," Bellatrix smirked. "First the Philosopher's Stone and Quirrellmort, then the Basilisk and the diary Malfoy inflicted on the Weasley girl, and then the Dementors and Sirius escaping from Azkaban. I would put money on the possibility that someone will put your name into the Tournament. Probably a lackey of my former master."

Griphook looked at Omega. "Former master?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange is no longer Voldemort's lackey, but my enforcer, the Morrigan. Cross her at your peril."

Bellatrix then found it. "Ah," she murmured softly. She gingerly lifted the Cup from where it was placed, and put it into her satchel.

"Griphook," Omega asked, half-musing, "do the Goblins have any means of removing Horcruxes from artifacts? Rituals and the like?"

Griphook frowned. "I will have to consult the Curse-Breakers' section. However, I heard rumours that they have found the occasional Horcrux in Egypt and other countries where our Curse-Breakers work to…repossess assets."

"Hmm. If that is the case, we will have need of your services before long," Omega said. "Of course, it goes without saying that the utmost discretion is required. I am sure that the Goblins detest the upstart Voldemort."

"Of course. He refused to have a vault here," Griphook sneered. "And he stole many of our artifacts. Worst of all, he murdered many of our people, defiled their corpses. It will be a pleasure to have a hand in his overdue demise."

"Hopefully, that will not be a pleasure deferred for too long," Omega said.

* * *

They soon learned from the Curse-Breakers that a ritual indeed existed to remove Horcruxes from artifacts, albeit in exchange for a hefty fee. Omega told them he would have them do so once he had gathered all, or almost all, of the Horcruxes. The Goblins were salivating at the prospect: a big hit of Galleons as well as having a hand in the downfall of Voldemort? They looked forward to it. Plus, they knew that Omega was someone to have on their side: he didn't give them false promises or demands for loyalty. He just was. And the fact that Harry Potter was in fact a new Dark Lord on the rise, albeit of a relatively benign (in comparison to Voldemort or Grindlewald) type, had them smirking at the irony.

After departing Gringotts, Omega and Bellatrix took a quick detour into Knockturn Alley. Omega and the Rani had been frequent visitors shortly before Third Year had ended and the TARDIS was working, particularly to Borgin and Burke's. Borgin was actually glad he was able to sell off a good proportion of his books to the pair, and promised to keep some aside if any came in.

After going shopping, they then used a personal transmat to get back to 12 Grimmauld Place. Much more comfortable than Apparition, Omega felt. On their return, though, they found the Rani nursing a small glass of firewhiskey in the drawing room. Omega sighed, before asking, "Luna?"

The Rani nodded. " _Luna_. After Sirius was done being turned into a Time Lord, Luna whipped him off to Fiesta 95. Specifically, it's Red Light District. Remember how we had to drag her away from there last time?"

"You forgot about me needing to be dragged away," Bellatrix said with a smirk. "You only got me out of there because I was in a post-coital coma for days. We were celebrating Luna's 21st birthday…in her current form, anyway. Best birthday party I ever attended."

"…I need to make a drug to lower your libido," the Rani muttered. "Time Lords are not normally this…this…"

"Randy?" Bellatrix asked.

"…Yes, randy. Or maybe it's a quirk of Black family genetics. All that inbreeding."

"I'd argue with you on that point, but you should see the Squib cousins we shipped off to Innsmouth in the last century," Bellatrix said. "Luna told me that was where a Muggle writer called HP Lovecraft got one of his ideas. Now…you said you got rid of Kreacher, right? Sycophantic to that bitch Walburga and that whiny brat Regulus. So, where's his replacement?"

"Dobby's spying for us at Hogwarts," Omega said. "Dumbledore thinks he is employing him, but Dobby is employing us. Dobby?"

With a pop, Dobby appeared, dressed in a hideous collection of clothes that even the Doctor wouldn't wear. "Yes, the Great Omega?" His eyes widened when he saw Bellatrix, who grinned, and waved.

"Dobby, I'm sure you recognise Bellatrix Lestrange. She is now one of us, so you have nothing to fear. She will also answer to her Time Lord title: the Morrigan. You will obey any reasonable request from her. Has there been any news?"

Dobby pursed his lips in thought. "Winky's been dismissed by her Master Crouch. The Whiskered Wether has employed her, but Winky wants a proper master again."

"Crouch…" Bellatrix said. "Barty Crouch Senior, no doubt." She scowled at the thought of the man who put her into Azkaban. Although the crimes she was accused of warranted such a thing, the truth was that Crouch was an unlikeable man in general, and as Bellatrix had been potioned by her husband and Crouch had railroaded her cousin into Azkaban…

The Rani nodded, and then looked at Dobby. "Dobby, is she open to being employed by us?"

"Winky doesn't wants to bes paid," Dobby said, looking morose.

"We'll bind her to us, then," the Rani said. "Assuming she's willing. I could do with a lab assistant."

"You won't dissects her, Mistress Rani?"

"Not unless she irritates me," the Rani said.

Dobby nodded. "Dobby will gets Winky." He then disappeared with a pop. He then reappeared a short moment later with a House Elf that Omega recognised from the Quidditch World Cup.

"Winky, was it?" the Rani drawled. "Do you want a new master, Winky?" The House Elf nodded timidly. "Well, we are willing to be your new masters. You will answer to me first and foremost, and then Omega, and then to any other members of our group who give you civil commands. Your duties will be mostly as my laboratory assistant, with occasional cleaning, catering, and secretarial duties. I presume you did most of those under Crouch."

Winky nodded again, clearly not trusting herself to speak. She could tell that the Rani held considerable power here. Or maybe Dobby had told her of how the Rani had vivisected him.

"Well? Do you accept, Winky?" the Rani asked.

A third nod. "Winky accepts Rani's offer," she said timidly.

"Capital," the Rani said. "That being said, you, along with Dobby, will be working at Hogwarts as our agents until we have need of you. Do you have any objections to that?"

Winky shook her head, apparently unwilling to consider refusing.

"Excellent. If you wish for any privileges in exchange for your work, feel free to ask. While I won't insult you about freeing you or paying you in money, you may ask for other boons within reason."

Winky, after a moment, said, "Can Winky thinks about that?"

"Certainly. However, remember that betrayal has its price, Winky. You will wish for me to give you clothes if you do betray me. Am I understood?"

Winky nodded rapidly.

"Then you may go." Winky and Dobby soon vanished, and the Rani sighed. "If she is going to be an assistant to me, I need to improve her grammar. You can have Dobby, Peylix, and I'll have Winky."

"I've no problem with that," Omega said. "Dobby's scared of you anyway, Ushas."

"I still find it hilarious that you managed to inveigle that smug fuck Malfoy's House Elf away from him," Bellatrix snickered. "Slippery little bastard. He was only loyal to Voldemort out of desire for power. Then again, you could say that about most of the Death Eaters. They wanted power…or they feared him. Or both. Rodolphus pimped me to him to gain his favour. Have to say, for all his faults, Voldemort knew how to give a girl a good time. Actually, there's a spell that switches pain and pleasure impulses, so that when you get the Cruciatus cast on you…" Bellatrix shuddered in delight.

The Rani blinked, before she said, flatly, "As I said, I need to make a drug to inhibit your libido."

"You weren't complaining about my libido on your last birthday, Ushas darling," Bellatrix purred with a wink. "You were screaming, but not in protest or complaint."

"Remember what I said, Ushas," Omega said with a sigh. "We created a monster. We've now got a semi-insane Time Lady with powerful magic and absolute loyalty."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Bellatrix said with a smile.

Any further conversation on the matter was ended when the TARDIS appeared with its customary wheezing roar, and Luna skipped out, followed by a staggering Sirius who, while less haggard overall, looked fatigued. "How was it?" Bellatrix asked.

"Bright. Lovely. Gems. Silicon breasts. Nap time now," Sirius said, before flopping onto a lounge and snoring loudly.

Omega blinked. "What?"

"Oh, he was smitten with a Kastrian," Luna said. "Being a silicon-based life-form, she literally had silicon breasts(1). And gemstones growing out of her, though she could shed them for intimacy. Of course, there was also that Vulpanan(2), a Lakertyan…oh, and he had real fun with a Rutan(3)!"

"Because it could shapeshift?" the Rani asked.

"Yeah, he kept saying it was like being with Nymphadora, only without the incest," Luna said with a grin. "Okay, it normally looks like a big green jellyfish, but he reckons that it doesn't matter as long as it can shapeshift into a looker."

"Before we get too badly-mired into those escapades," Omega said, "we obtained the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff."

Luna's eyes widened, and she skipped over to them. Bellatrix, without a word, pulled it out of her satchel. "It's a Horcrux all right," Luna said after examining it.

"The Goblins can remove it from them, but we intend to remove all the Horcruxes at once, or as many as possible," Omega said. "And that will be shortly before we deal with Voldemort for good. That way, he won't be spooked into creating any more Horcruxes. And as two of them are currently close to Voldemort's current location, we should save those two for last." Omega grinned. _The world has only room for two rulers, Voldemort: myself and Ushas_ , he thought to himself. _You will not be part of our new world_ …

 **CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, Omega and Bellatrix have gotten the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, and they're making plans. But will there be a fly in the ointment? Oh, and Sirius is now a Time Lord.**

 **EDIT: I forgot the recommendations for this chapter. Gah!**

 **EDIT 2: A number of reviewers pointed out that the Thief's Downfall was merely an enchanted waterfall/potions stream that removes disguises, etc. In my defence, it's been a few years since I've read Book 7, and I got it confused with the curses on the things within the vault itself. So I changed it to the Thief's Lament. Hey, who says it shouldn't have a name?**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation: _The Accidental Animagus_ by White Squirrel. White Squirrel does some pretty damn good fics, and this one, where Harry escapes from the Dursleys in the form of a kitten, only to end up at the Grangers, is my personal favourite. It goes up to the end of Fourth Year, and has a sequel in the works ( _Animagus at War_ ), but is a good story that expands the lore of the Potterverse.**

 ** _Doctor Who_ story recommendation: _City of Death_ by 'David Agnew'. Well, not really. The original concepts and characters were by David Fisher, but the story itself was heavily rewritten by Douglas Adams, with Graham Williams effectively acting as a script-editor. But as those latter two were script editor and producer respectively, they needed to use a pseudonym, hence 'David Agnew', which was a stock pseudonym in those days for writers who needed to remain anonymous at the time due to union regulations. Anyway, this story is easily the best of its season, featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana, Julian Glover (aka Donovan from _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ , Kristatos from _For Your Eyes Only_ , and Grand Maester Pycelle from _Game of Thrones_ ) as Scarlioni, and a LOT of location filming in Paris.**

 **Anyway, the story involves the Doctor and Romana stumbling across Scarlioni's plot to steal the Mona Lisa, as well as a rather pugilistic detective called Duggan's attempt to stop the heist. The theft of the Mona Lisa, however, has even bigger implications than first thought, linked to the last remnants of an extinct species of aliens known as the Jagaroth…a species that Scarlioni, impossibly, seems to be part of. Oh, and he's funding time travel experiments in his basement. The story is both funny and dramatic, and it recently got a novelisation, courtesy of James Goss, who also enhanced the story, expanded on the backgrounds, and filled in a couple of small plot holes.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Gabriel Herrol** **: Yes, Luna's body is mostly like her own, just made of Block-Transfer Computation matter than flesh. It's more like an avatar, so getting pregnant is not a problem. I'd say normally she'd be sterile, but she's Luna Lovegood. Even without being a TARDIS, she breaks the laws of the universe just by existing.**

 **woodzrox** **: True, but she needs the coordinates for the vault, so it'd be easier to have Bellatrix go to the vault herself rather than Luna travel into Gringotts blindly. That being said, wards would be far less of a barrier, due to the way the TARDIS dematerialises and rematerializes.**

 **Crimson Grave** **: Sirius' already had enough time to come to terms with the fact that his godson and the girlfriend of said godson are near-immortal aliens from another universe. Few things would shock him after that. Plus, the Rani drugged him up pretty heavily to have his mind repaired after Azkaban, so even with the drugs out of his system, he's a bit chillaxed all the time.**

 **Guest** **: Manipulative old man AND villain. And he will be one from the Whoniverse too, though NOT a Time Lord.**

 **DalkonCledwin** **: All TARDISes in the classic series makes that noise to one degree or another, including the Master's and the Rani's. Anyway, they probably make the noise all the time from the outside unless the driver turns the 'parking brakes' off. So there. Anyway, Omega was at the time of the first TARDISes, so it's not unreasonable that the 'blue boring-ers' as the Doctor calls them are a later invention. So there.**

 **1\. For reference, see Eldrad's female form in** ** _The Hand of Fear_** **. And while the female Eldrad roughly based herself on Sarah Jane, a female Kastrian does appear in the audio story** ** _Eldrad Must Die!_**

 **2\. I recommended** ** _The Greatest Show in the Galaxy_** **, which had a Vulpanan werewolf as one of the key characters.**

 **3\. Rutans are, of course, the perpetual foes of the Sontarans. The first to appear is in the TV story** ** _Horror of Fang Rock_** **, where its appearance and shapeshifting abilities are shown. Rutans also appear in the video drama Shakedown, as well as its novelisation, and a number of other novels and audios. Although a hive mind, the Rutans do have a breakaway faction that wants peace, shown in the Bernice Summerfield audio** ** _The Bellotron Incident_** **. Presumably Sirius' lover belongs to said faction, which is just as well: Rutans have a nasty personal weapon in that they can electrocute people.**


	9. Chapter 8: Transit

**CHAPTER 8:**

 **TRANSIT**

Omega hated having to don the mask of being Harry Potter once more. At least the Rani didn't need to change much to become Hermione plausibly again: all she needed to do was tone down the megalomania. And Luna…well, any weird utterances would be considered normal for her. But for him, he needed to become, if not meek, then certainly weaker than he was. Though it didn't stop his true personality from leaking through.

It had been a busy summer. They managed to get a hold of Remus, and had persuaded him to join them. He had been somewhat reluctant to, until it was pointed out for him that Magical Britain had many inequities, geared towards anyone the current rulers viewed as impure. Muggleborns, Halfbloods, and those with either creature heritages, or diseases like lycanthropy. Plus, Dumbledore's apparent refusal to either help clear Sirius' name or rein in Snape didn't help.

Soon, Remus joined the human-turned-Time Lord club. What was more, in the process, the Rani found a treatment for his condition. While impossible to cure completely, Remus was now able to control his transformations, effectively making him into an Animagus with a werewolf form. The full moon still would affect him, but it would merely make him more aggressive, given the tests the Rani ran with simulated moonlight.

It was decided that Sirius and Remus would remain in 12 Grimmauld Place as support. Meanwhile, Bellatrix would remain in Luna's TARDIS form, along with the Omega Squad. They would be then ready for deployment when needed. In fact, Bellatrix wanted to stay in the Chamber of Secrets for a time, if only to reconnect with the true legacy of Salazar Slytherin.

In any case, September 1st arrived sooner than they wanted to. They used Luna to get to King's Cross Station (with her materialising in a storage room: she hacked the cameras to prevent them from noticing and they wiped the memories of any staff members they came across), before making their way to Platform 9¾, and from there, embarked on the Hogwarts Express.

They soon secured a carriage, and began speaking in Old High Gallifreyan, at least for some sort of privacy, in case of any eavesdroppers. " _How long do you think it will be until Weasley comes in?_ " Omega asked.

" _Who knows, or cares?_ " the Rani remarked. " _I swear, my IQ drops by half around him, and given how high it is, that's a significant drop. I suppose he has his uses at times, though. He makes a decent assistant if you spell it out to him, and he's a very good chess player for a human._ "

Omega chuckled. " _That's damning by faint praise, Ushas. When do you think Malfoy will come around with his annual attempt to torment us?_ "

" _When it is fashionable for him to do so_ ," Luna said.

* * *

About half an hour later, Ron poked his head in. The expression on his face was…complex. In fact, Omega was surprised at how complex the feelings were. There was envy, yes, but there was also a strange wistfulness, a desire for things to be back to the way they were, and a sorrow because he knew that would probably not be the case. Omega had misjudged his former friend, though he wasn't sure he could forgive him.

"Hey," he said, a little flatly. "Look, I'm going to be with Dean and Seamus if you want me, okay?"

"Sure," Omega said.

And, well, that was all that needed to be said. Ron, for once, knew he wasn't wanted. His morose expression said it all. Then again, if he had a single iota of a notion of what Omega and the Rani had done…or were going to do, well, he would be filled with his righteous anger.

Part of the reason was that Ron was still a child. And while many children could be mature for their age, they weren't expected to be. Whereas Omega, the Rani, and Luna had centuries worth of experience and life. That didn't necessarily confer maturity by any means, but it was certainly a contributing factor.

Omega realised, with a sudden start, that he had been in the same position before: at the bottom, jockeying for attention, striving to make himself known, playing second fiddle to another and basking in the reflected fame. Back then, it was Rassilon who Omega had been the sidekick to. True, he actually had his name remembered by history, unlike the Other (well, Omega's appellation had been, but Omega had deliberately discarded his original name of Peylix, just as many renegades would follow in his footsteps), but Omega had always been in Rassilon's shadow. Look at how many bloody things on Gallifrey had been named for Rassilon, according to the memories he had absorbed from the Doctor, not to mention the Rani's own recollections.

Omega wasn't sure whether he wanted to reach out and invite Ron in. Ron didn't belong in this world, a bubble, a remnant of another time, another world, in another universe entirely. But some part of him decided to wish him well, at least mentally speaking, even as Ron shut the door and left.

" _Please don't tell me you were feeling sorry for that ginger imbecile_ ," the Rani scoffed in Old High Gallifreyan.

" _Unlike you, Ushas, I remember what it is like to grow up in the shadow of another, dependent on the reflected fame of a so-called hero_ ," Omega retorted. " _You at least got your fame…or rather infamy, based on your own merits. Even if it was partly because those mice you tinkered with to make them gargantuan ate the President's cat, along with part of him._ "

Luna smirked. " _Mouse Eats Cat. Brilliant headline. It would fit right into_ The Quibbler."

The Rani rolled her eyes. " _Spare me speculation on what would be fit for your father's tabloid rag. It is worth the price for entertainment value and the Runes puzzle. For actual informative value, I would sooner have read whatever drivel the Master tried to write as a manifesto. Though it would probably be easily summarised as 'I am the Master, and you will obey me'_."

Omega snorted. From what he had gained from the Doctor's memories, that was a fairly accurate summation. Luna meanwhile pouted. " _That's as may be, Ushas, but for your information_ , The Quibbler _is VERY informative. It's certainly better than_ The Daily Prophet."

Before Ushas could retort, the door slid open, revealing the blonde hair and pointed features of Draco Malfoy, sneering at them. He was flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle, his thuggish minions who looked, now that Omega and the Rani came to think about it, resembled Sontarans, albeit with hair, and less intelligence (an achievement in of itself: Sontarans were brilliant war strategists, but tended to be singular and uncreative intellects). "Well, the attention whore, the Mudblood, and the lunatic together. But where's the redheaded weasel? Did you actually ditch him?"

"I didn't remember asking you if you could join us, Malfoy," Omega replied coolly. "In fact, I believe it is very unbecoming of the head of a long and illustrious line to barge in unannounced."

"I wouldn't waste good manners on those who don't deserve it, Potter," Malfoy retorted. "Though I am curious…are you going to enter? I mean, you never miss a chance to show off."

"If by that, you mean the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Omega said, "I've heard the rumours, and I want to have a relatively quiet year this year. Then again, my luck isn't that good. Though it might be changing." He turned to Malfoy, and gave a vicious grin. "I saw Omega in action at the World Cup. Good to see someone finally putting the likes of you in their place."

"Omega is a vicious murderer!" Malfoy sneered. "The Aurors won't rest until he's in Azkaban where he belongs."

"Like your father," Omega said, before holding up a hand to stop Malfoy's protests. "Shut up, Malfoy, and listen, for once in your life. I won't deny that your father is a powerful man. But truly powerful men don't bend the knee to others. And yet, your father did to Voldemort, becoming a Death Eater…probably licking his snake while he was at it."

Malfoy whipped out his wand, but Omega glared into his eyes, and used Legilimency. He made Malfoy feel what it was like to be close to a Dementor. Malfoy instantly recoiled with a cry of fear, and ran down the corridor. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, and then at Omega. "What did you do?" Crabbe asked, his voice surprisingly soft for his hulking frame.

"Let's answer your question, with another question: do you really want to find out?" Omega indicated down the corridor. "I presume you have official duties as bodyguards to deal with. So…go discharge your duties."

The two thugs looked at each other, before they moved off to find Malfoy. As Omega shut the door once more, the Rani remarked, " _That was unusually crude of you, Peylix. 'Licking his snake indeed'. I got enough of that mental scarring from Bellatrix's dreams of copulating with Voldemort when we had her in stasis._ "

" _I enjoy aggravating people_ ," Omega said with an unrepentant shrug.

* * *

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, though a thunderstorm blew up as they reached Hogsmead. After making it to the castle, and to the Great Hall for the feast, Omega, as he sat down next to the Rani, looked over at the tables. When he reached the Head Table, where the staff were seated, he noted a conspicuous absence of DADA teacher.

He also noted that Snape was glaring at him. But what else was new? That pitiful, stupid human didn't know spite, hatred, envy, and how to hold a grudge, not like Omega did. He had been trapped in a black hole for eons, using his will to create an antimatter universe. Compared to that, being servant to an upstart would-be Dark Lord and detesting Omega for being the biological offspring of his wet dream and his worst enemy should be bearable.

As for Dumbledore, Omega marked him in his mind. _You'll get yours soon, old man. I am Omega. I am the beginning of your end_.

The Sorting soon began, despite Ron's protests that he was hungry, and when it finally ended (with Omega annoyed that Colin Creevey pointed him out to his little brother), they finally ate the food.

Omega had to admit, the food was fit for a king…or a Time Lord. True, it was a bit on the greasy side, but magic tended to burn through extra calories. Nearly Headless Nick relayed an anecdote about how Peeves caused havoc in the kitchens, scaring the life out of the House Elves. Then, finally, the repast came to an end, and Dumbledore made his announcements.

After making the usual notices about the Forbidden Forest and Filch being a killjoy, Dumbledore announced the cancellation of the inter-House Quidditch Cup. As he began what was to be an announcement about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the doors to the Great Hall slammed open. In tune with a rumble of thunder, of all things.

The cloaked figure that walked through lowered his hood, revealing a gnarled, scarred face. He looked like Frankenstein's Monster after going through the digestive tract of a dragon. One of his eyes was small, dark and beady, the other was electric blue, and always moving. Omega had heard about this man from Remus and Sirius, not to mention Bellatrix: this had to be Alastor Moody, better known as 'Mad-Eye'. From the Doctor's memories, Omega thought of the grizzled Castellan Spandrell, only more paranoid(1).

Moody went over to Dumbledore, spoke to him inaudibly, before sitting down for dinner, checking the sausages before eating them. Dumbledore then introduced him, and in the lack of applause, Moody merely took a swig from a hip-flask. Then, Dumbledore dropped the bombshell of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Fred made some remark about Dumbledore joking, and Dumbledore tried to give one of his own, before McGonagall's stony look had him explain it.

After the explanations were over, and they were sent back to their dorms, Omega overheard Fred, George and Ron musing about the prize money. He wondered whether they truly had what it took to subvert whatever Dumbledore had in place. Still, he hoped that he'd be only a spectator to the Tri-Wizard Tournament…and not a participant…

* * *

Barty thought his disguise as Moody was foolproof. But as he headed for his quarters, he found himself with an unexpected guest. "What're you doing here, Albus?" he growled.

"There is no need to pretend, Moody," Dumbledore said smoothly, his eyes twinkling. "Or would you prefer another name, my dear boy? Barty Crouch Junior, perhaps? Or perhaps another name will suffice. I know what you really are: a shadow of a Time Lord who has faced me more than a few times, and who has cheated his way to victory every time."

Barty's eyes widened. "How…how could you possibly know?"

"I am the master of my own domain. Admittedly, this is not my usual dominion, my usual toyroom, but even diminished, I have more power than even you can imagine," Dumbledore said. "It's so amusing, these reincarnated Time Lords think that they are players in this game, when in reality, they are little more than pieces. But I am the sole player of this game, or at least I am its Games Master. That being said…I'm willing to allow you to continue with this amusingly convoluted plan to humiliate Harry Potter…or should I say, Omega? You intend to deliver him to Voldemort. But it must burn, knowing you are beholden to a master like he is."

"Yes," Barty hissed.

"Well, let me put it this way. You keep on amusing me, and I will stay out of your way. Who knows? Remember, in chess, a pawn may become a queen. Remember that, my dear _Valeyard_."

 **CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Well, there you have it, at long last! I was going to save the big reveal of Barty's previous life until later, but I thought now was the right time to reveal it, as well as have some enticing hints as to Dumbledore's true nature. Dumbledore is not quite a reincarnation of a** ** _Doctor Who_** **villain: he IS that villain, stranded in the Potterverse in a weakened but still potent state. I've given more than a few hints as to his true identity, and here's another one: he's a villain who appeared in the classic series once.**

 **The Valeyard, for those not in the know, can be best described as a dark side of the Doctor. He is stated to be an amalgamation of the Doctor's darkest impulses from between his twelfth and thirteenth regenerations. He first appeared in the epic (or at least overly long) classic series story** ** _The Trial of a Timelord_** **as a prosecutor at the Doctor's trial. Similar beings also include t** **he Dream Lord from** ** _Amy's Choice_** **, as well as Zagreus from the audio stories** ** _Neverland, Zagreus_** **, and** ** _The Next Life_** **. Given that Barty Crouch Junior in the films is played by David Tennant, I couldn't resist making him into the Valeyard when I thought about it.**

 **Before I go onto the recommendations and the review-answering, I'm sad to announce that DZ2 had not gone forward with their revamp of** ** _Say Something Nice_** **. Bugger.**

 **Harry Potter fanfic recommendation:** ** _Don't Look Back in Anger_** **by robst. robst's works are more than a little controversial, especially given the sheer amount of bashing that goes on. But I still think they can be enjoyable when you go into them with a certain mindset. All of robst's works are Harmony, with a few Lunar Harmony works thrown in. This one has Harry sent to Azkaban after the events of Book Four thanks to some angry words from Hermione towards Fudge. Harry, tormented by Dementors, learns how to, well, almost astrally project. He gets help from Luna and Hermione, and even Ron (who gets paired with Susan Bones) eventually helps out. Though Ginny is another matter…**

 ** _Doctor Who_** **story recommendation:** ** _Spare Parts_** **by Marc Platt. Given what has happened in the finale of the most recent season, I thought this story would be most appropriate.** ** _Spare Parts_** **is another genesis of the Cybermen story, with the same Mondasian Cybermen, the earliest. It's a Big Finish audio story, available for cheap as a download, or as a really expensive vinyl limited edition. Anyway, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa land in an enclosed city that turns out to be on Mondas, during a time when the first Cybermen were being created. It's a good story, bloody chilling, and the audio can't quite stop you from visualising the horror.**

 **Review-answering time!** **BlazeStryker** **: No.**

 **Muroshi** **: Read the review answer I gave DalkonCledwin in the previous chapter about the TARDIS noise.** ** _Pay attention_** **.**

 **Validmarian** **: Yeah, I know, I should have added a Zygon. Missed opportunity, but no use crying over spilled milk. Then again, Zygons need an imprint of a person to impersonate most of the time, while Rutans, after studying the species they imitate, can do it at will.**

 **cassikat** **: You're welcome, and thanks for your praise. I hope the reveal of whom Barty is is whom you thought it was…and I wonder if you'll guess who Dumbledore is?**

 **1\. Spandrell was the Castellan (the head of the Time Lord's Capitol Guard and thus in charge of security) seen in** ** _The Deadly Assassin_** **. While grizzled, no-nonsense and hating the corruption around Gallifrey (particularly the Celestial Intervention Agency and the deviousness of Prydonian graduates), he was also one of the first to believe that the Doctor had been framed as the assassin of the President during that story.**


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